Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
S hae
“Stupid flirty-eyed meat stick with bulging everything,” I grumbled under my breath, spinning to lock the front door of my house.
My gaze fell on the dilapidated rocking chairs on the porch.
I’d earmarked that money for new patio furniture, not lingerie no man would ever see.
But then Boon came along and put me under some kind of girl-spell with his suggestive brown eyes and growly offer to be my personal voyeur.
Next thing I knew I blew all that money on lingerie, and Boon was walking out of the store with his daughter under his arm like he hadn’t just knocked my world off my axis by flirting with me.
I shivered, hurrying to close the door to my Mini Cooper as I slid inside.
It was the car I’d saved for for years, purchasing brand new in my favorite color: royal blue.
How the hell had Boon known my favorite color was blue?
I cranked the engine, then the heat, and headed for Lydia’s house for our HAGS get-together.
I refused to look over at the Wolfe house, or even let my brain go back to this afternoon in that stupid store.
I was angry at Boon. He’d played with my feelings, and I’d let him.
He flirted with everyone, he couldn’t help himself.
I knew this. And yet here I was with lingerie and no porch furniture.
I was better than this. I just needed to get my head screwed on straight.
The girls were already all there by the time I arrived.
Lydia’s place was smaller than mine and decorated like a crypt.
Yes, a crypt. The walls were mostly dark colors, appliances were black, and candles lit every surface instead of modern inventions like lightbulbs.
She also required the HAGS meetup she hosted be at night, her preferred time of the day to be social.
“It’s puzzle night,” she said by way of welcome when she opened the door.
I shook the slim box in my hand that was currently wrapped. “I know. I brought a good one.”
We went inside and I took my usual seat on a wingback chair she’d had re-covered in dark red velvet. The girls were seated and imbibing in wine. Lydia poured me a glass and handed it to me.
“Okay. We’re all here. Shall we hand out the puzzle gifts?” Lydia went around the circle, exchanging gifts for all of us. We always drew out of a hat to decide who gifted who.
Hattie held up the box I’d brought. “I get to open first this time!” She ripped into the paper and then began to howl with laughter. “A giant peen?”
She held up the box so the rest of us could see. It was a jigsaw puzzle of a giant pink blowup penis floating in a pool. The bulbous head was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. The girls all loved it, which I knew they would. We were all lusty single girls, after all.
Rosemary went next, her puzzle being a picture of a stripper on a pole, but Lydia had Photoshopped Rosemary’s face onto the picture. It was hilarious and also scandalous. Rosemary said she’d have to hide it or some parent might see it and think she was unfit to be principal.
Lydia opened her puzzle to find a naked man draped across a coffin in a cemetery. He was alive, thank goodness, and had the stacks of muscle Boon carried. Not that I was thinking about Boon right then. Nope.
Fifi went next, opening her puzzle to see it was a screenshot of her first ever product description for the clothing company she worked for. It was the description that went viral online and made both her and the company she worked for quite successful.
I was last, eyeing the box with distrust. Hattie could have gifted me something completely cute like a furry puppy with a necktie or gone for rated-R shock factor. One never really knew with her. I ripped the paper off and froze.
Shock factor it was.
Except it wasn’t rated-R.
It was a giant replica of Boon Wolfe’s baseball card with the Texas Outlaws. His dimples mocked me as he stood there all casual, bat resting on his meaty shoulder. He looked like he knew what color underwear you were wearing. It was his flirty look.
“Whooee! That man is gorgeous!” Rosemary hollered, getting up from her chair for a closer look.
“And to think he lives right next door to you,” Fifi murmured, gaze fixated on Boon.
Hattie smiled smugly. “I had to do it. That exact expression is how he was looking at you when he had that goat in his arms.”
I scoffed. “No, he wasn’t. He just has resting flirt face. He looks at me with hate and condescension.”
Lydia snorted. “Okay, keep telling yourself that.”
I spun around to glare at her. She was my best friend. She was supposed to be on my side. “It’s true! We’ve hated each other for years.”
“It’s a fine line between love and hate,” Fifi drawled.
Rosemary sat back down and fanned her face.
“I don’t know. Those Wolfe brothers know how to flirt, that’s for sure.
He might just flirt with every woman.” She looked over at me, concern spilling across her face.
“Not that you aren’t special and amazing, Shae.
I didn’t mean it the way that came out. I think maybe he’s just programmed by genetics to flirt with females. ”
“If you say he’s a jerkface, then he’s a jerkface. We’ll toast to his dick shriveling up and his charming face turning hideous in his old age.” Hattie had my back, making me smile.
That was when Lydia piped in, her timing impeccable as usual. “Did you know the anonymous funding for the building of the gymnasium and weight room came from Boon?”
My jaw hit the floor. “Excuse me?”
Ten years ago I’d petitioned the board of education for a new gymnasium that didn’t have visible black mold on the ceiling.
They’d been reluctant at first, even when I outlined the fundraising I would take on to make it happen.
Then one day they got all excited about the project, approved the plans, and said it was funded. I was too happy to ask questions.
Lydia’s gaze held more meaning than her words. “I overheard Principal Joseph talking about it one day. It was definitely from Boon.”
Rosemary cringed. “Yeah, I actually already knew. Principal Joseph discussed it with me at a teacher training years ago. Said he thought Boon was crazy for investing in the gym and weight room and not a new baseball field, given his own sport. I even joked with him that I wished Boon would fund the elementary school gymnasium too.”
My mouth was getting dry from hanging open for so long. I felt like my neurons were reforming around this new information. Then I gasped, a memory hitting me sideways.
“What?” Hattie asked, concerned.
My hand fluttered upward, shutting my mouth for me. “I, uh, tried to kick Boon out of his own weight room his first day on campus.” I groaned, feeling like an ungrateful fool. “I could have really used this information a few years ago, ladies. Or even just a week ago.”
Lydia cringed, but then shrugged it off. “I was eavesdropping, so I didn’t think it was my place to gossip, nor did I fully understand your history. And besides, he wanted to remain anonymous, so that’s his fault.”
“Can I ask a favor?” I said into the quiet as all of us absorbed this new information. “Can we stop talking about Boon? At least for tonight? I need a Boon break.”
Hattie smiled sympathetically, Rosemary nodded, Fife looked bummed out, and Lydia clapped her hands together, successfully moving us onto another topic.
“I found a new dating app I think we should all join.”
That made all of us groan and roll our eyes. As a collective whole, we had not had good luck with dating apps. However, we lived in a small town and there were only so many single men around.
Lydia held her hands up to quiet us down. “This one is different.” At my crossed eyes she glared at me, but continued. “It’s specifically geared toward women’s safety, but also for people not looking for long-term relationships. More like a nice fuck buddy.”
She held up her phone and showed us the app icon. It vaguely looked like a vagina-shaped flower.
“Oh! Isn’t that the one where their tagline is good clean, dirty fun ?” Hattie asked, pulling out her own phone.
“Yes,” Lydia confirmed. “I downloaded it last night and already have a potential match. I think you should all join.”
I was the oldest of the bunch which is probably why I was the only one a bit cautious about the new app. While they all quickly downloaded and giggled over setting up their profiles, I held off. Lydia, that little beyotch, noticed almost immediately.
“What’s your issue? Don’t want to download the app? Waiting for Boon Wolfe to scratch the itch?”
I glared at her. “We just agreed to be on a Boon break!”
Lydia put her hands on her slim hips. “Best way to get over a guy is to get under another one. Download the app, Shae.” She held my gaze like a personal challenge.
“Fine.” I pulled out my phone and downloaded the app, already promising myself I’d delete it once I got home tonight. A hookup app seemed like a recipe for disaster.
Lydia snatched the phone out of my hands.
“Hey!”
“What username should we give Shae?” she asked the group, clearly having read my mind about deleting the damn thing. Sometimes I hated having a best friend.
The girls tossed out ideas, each more ridiculous than the last. Somehow, when all was said and done and Lydia handed me back my phone, my username was Bugeyedbeauty and the tagline below my picture was I’m a teacher, which means I’m in to spanking .
“Oh my God!”
The girls howled with laughter, and as terrible as this profile was, it was also a little bit funny. I laughed, pocketed the phone, and made a mental note to delete tonight. No way in h-e-double-hocky-sticks was I going out with a mystery man who wanted to spank me.
“Somehow I think my toys would be better than any man who comes from that app,” I muttered.
There was heated debate about the merits of toy usage versus the real-life feel of a man pressing you into the mattress or giving your inner thighs beard burn.
I explained I’d lived fourteen years without a man and my toys got me by just fine.
The girls all looked at me with pity. By the time the night was over and we all needed to get home to be ready for work the next day, we were still on different pages about the toy-versus-man debate.
“Remember next week is toy week, so make sure you find some fun ones to gift,” Rosemary reminded us as we filed out the door.
Finally, a topic I had extensive knowledge on.
Monday morning came way too early considering I’d had a glass of wine the night before.
I guessed this was what middle age did to a woman.
You have one glass and suddenly need a whole day to recover.
I soldiered on, curling my hair and pairing a lavender sweater with my black pants and ballet flats.
I went with my thick black-framed glasses today to hide the bags under my tired eyes.
I gave myself a pep talk about Boon. I was going to ignore his flirting as it was surely just a knee-jerk response and meant nothing.
However, I’d try to inject just a sliver of politeness to our interactions considering his money had paid for the gymnasium and weight room I benefited from every day with my volleyball team.
Plus, if he really had done what he said he did with Grady Summerlin, then I really should do a bit more than a sliver.
However, the universe decided to give me a case of the Mondays.
As soon as I stepped out of my car in the school parking lot, Kinsley was walking by.
She waved and came over, bubbling with excitement about her purchases from the mall.
We walked around the administration building together and would have parted ways at the outdoor stairwell as we both went to our first period classrooms, but we stopped short.
Boon stood in the middle of the baseball diamond, reporters and cameramen surrounding him like the local hotshot celebrity he was. His team was clustered behind him, wanting in on the spotlight he brought to Blueball High.
“Ugh,” Kinsley moaned. “He’s doing that thing with his voice.”
I couldn’t rip my gaze away from Boon. He had the body of a professional athlete, all right. He also had this ethereal glow around him that us regular humans didn’t possess. If he was in a toothpaste commercial, the sparkles would be coming off his white teeth like fireworks.
“What thing?”
Kinsley elaborated, disdain dripping. “His voice has this weird tone to it, like he’s about to crack an inside joke that only you and he know about. He did it with the pretzel lady yesterday. She gave us two-for-one buckets of pretzels. They weren’t having a two-for-one sale. I looked.”
Boon twisted, pointing out various things on the field for the reporters. He even turned in our exact direction, but must not have seen us because he spun back to the reporters with that teasing tone Kinsley was talking about.
“We have a lot of work to be done to turn this program around, but I’m in it for the long haul.” He winked. “If I can’t get us that state championship, no one can.”
Disgusted with the showboating, I patted Kinsley on the back and hustled to my classroom. His own daughter didn’t exist in his bubble when he was busy impressing reporters and outsiders. That man only cared about his image, and I’d do well to remember it.
A sliver of politeness?
Forget about it. He didn’t deserve my good manners.