Hot Girls keep it in the Family – J.L. Ash #2
A lot of men are gathered around a large pile of wood logs, adding more to make it higher.
There are girls spread out in lawn chairs surrounding it, holding their drinks and talking in their circles.
I envy their friendship. Being in college for so long and only having Parker in my life has been pretty lonely.
But I guess I should be thankful for the life I have.
Since I’ve been with Parker, he is all I hang out with. I even live in a different town from Parker.
I have lived with my mom since my parents divorced and she got remarried.
I only got to see Parker on my dad's weekends or during summer breaks.
“Hey, cuz, who is this?” A tall, blond-headed, handsome guy walks up. I have to do a double-take as I look up to meet his ocean blue eyes. He is mouth-watering.
I do not see any similarities between the two being cousins.
Parker has dark brown hair with blue eyes, but he is way shorter than his cousin. Looking at this guy's chest, it’s broad, and Parker’s is more slender.
“I’m Walker, by the way. I’m the better-looking cousin.” The man winks at me, and I can’t help the smile that forms on my lips.
Parker laughs. “Please, all the ladies fall over me. “
I turn my head quickly at his response, my smile fading just as quickly as it came. “Really! When has this been?”
“Calm down, Gennifer. I’m joking.” Parker tries to play it off, but I’m smarter than he thinks I am. I know girls fawn over him like he’s God’s gift to earth.
I turn and walk away from them both. I’m angry, and my hands start to shake.
I head toward a table that sits near the stairs of the back door of the house.
A few people smile and say hello. Reluctantly, I smile back.
I continue to the table where others are grabbing cold beers from the cooler, and some are pouring themselves a drink from a punch container. I believe I’ll have a drink.
After two drinks, I’m already starting to feel the burn of the alcohol. Parker has kept his distance but keeps his eyes on me while he talks with a couple of other guys.
I take a seat in an empty lawn chair beside a few ladies. I’m not a shy person at all, but I really don’t talk to anyone. My whole world has been Parker.
“Hi, I’m Brianna," one of them says. “This is Celeste, and the little short girl is Brooke. We are all neighbors.”
The girl, Brooke, flips Brianna off. We all break up in giggles.
Everyone tells me the scoop about Parker’s cousin.
He just got a divorce after he caught his wife with another man.
This party is to celebrate the freedom of being a single man.
They all continue to point out the single ladies who swarm around him, hoping to snatch him up.
I can’t even blame them. He’s very nice to look at.
I watch him smile at each woman who touches him and makes little conversation in between the others. One blonde whose roots need to be done continues to touch him. He wraps his arm around her waist.
I squeeze my cup tightly, getting upset about it. It was different when he didn’t look like he was interested. I shake my head. What the hell do I care? I love Parker.
Get your shit together, girl.
After about an hour, Parker comes up behind me, pulling me into his chest.
He bites my earlobe.
“Hey, babe. Some of the guys need a ride to the store to get more alcohol. Can I take your car?”
“Sure, can you grab me some Strawberry Hill?” I turn around, placing a kiss on his lips.
He gives me a peck and jogs around the house with two guys behind him.
An hour later, Parker is still not back yet, and he’s not answering my calls or texts.
I’ve had three more drinks with the girls I met earlier.
We danced around this now high flame fire, laughing while we shake our hips to ‘Achy breaky heart,’ then putting our hands over our hearts like it’s broken.
Others have joined in to dance too. It took my mind off Parker for a little while until my phone rang.
His picture lights up on my phone. I stop dancing and walk off towards the next-door neighbor's backyard so I can hear him.
He is breathing heavily and grunting.
“Parker! Are you okay?” Panic swells in my belly at the thought of him being hurt somewhere.
The female moan in the background makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He’s with another woman.
Get it together, Gennifer. A few of the guys went with him. It could be someone else.
“Parker. Hello!” I scream into the phone.
I feel eyes on me and turn. Walker is looking over, but others are too.
Shit…
I walk through the backyard to where a used car lot shows in the thin buses. I continue to listen to the heavy breathing of both of them.
Then the next words that come out of the girl's mouth. “Oh, Parker, right there, baby.”
Wait, what did she just say?
My hand squeezed the phone, and I could feel the heat rising inside me.
“Yes, Dana! Ride my dick!”
All the air leaves my body in a swoosh, and my knees go weak. I feel myself dropping to the ground when a strong arm wraps around me.
I start crying hysterically. “Why! Why would he do this to me?”
My eyes are blurred with tears as I’m handed off to someone else.
“I got her.” A deep voice says.
I’m guided into the house. He turns the radio down.
“Take a seat. You like Pepsi?” Walker asks, holding out a can.
“Sure,” I mumble, although I want anything other than freaking soda.
After I take it, he looks around the crowded room. “Everyone, get out.”
No one fights him as I watch everyone start to leave out the back door.
The only light shining is from the kitchen and the hall. I wipe my wet face with my one hand, then dry it on my shorts. I’m so damn embarrassed.
He takes a seat beside me, leaning over, letting his elbows rest on his thighs. He turns his head and looks dead at me. I usually don’t like eye-to-eye contact. It makes me feel awkward, but his blue eyes just calm me for some reason.
“What happened?” He asked.
“I got a phone call from Parker.” I let the tear that slips from my eye just fall.
“What did he do?” He asks, brushing away one of my tears with the pad of his thumb.
The tears fall freely now as I rehash what happened. “I was worried sick. He’s been gone for over an hour, and I thought something was wrong, so when he called, I answered.” I suck in a breath and wipe my face. “That’s when I heard it.”
I’m so embarrassed to tell him.
“What did my sorry ass cousin say?” He stands up and moves in front of me.
I have no choice but to look up at him.
“I heard heavy breathing. I thought he was hurt. I–”
“Was he okay? Do you need a ride to go check on him?” He says, placing his hand on my back.
I lean into his touch, letting the warmth from his hand ground me. I shouldn’t let him touch me like this. But after going through what I just went through, maybe it doesn’t matter anymore.
I turn my body toward him, shifting my leg under me so I can sit on my foot, and I look at him.
Like, really look at him this time. And something in me is drawn to him.
It doesn’t matter all the stuff I heard about him tonight from the other women.
It doesn’t matter that he has a kid, and lord knows baby drama that could last a lifetime.
His eyes are soft, and they keep drawing me in.
“Are you sure you're okay?” He asks softly.
Just spit it out, Gennifer. Not like they are really that close.
“He was fucking someone on the phone when he must have butt dialed me. I heard him say, “Yes, Dana! Ride my dick!”
“That motherfucker doesn’t deserve you.” He says, shaking his head. “His sister told us she saw him with another girl last week at a dance club in Charlotte. But she didn’t want to get involved with that.”
I scoot back. “What are you talking about? You're telling me Kendall saw him out recently with some girl other than me, and she didn’t want to get involved.”
I stand up. I’m so mad I want to knock the hell out of them both. I might just do that.
I turn to Walker, who is now standing with his arms crossed. “Look, I don’t know you, but you're way out of my cousin's league. He will never amount to anything. He lives off others, so he doesn’t have to be an adult.”
I shake my head. “You can’t sweet-talk me like you do all these other girls. You know nothing about me.” I step closer and stab my finger into his chest. “I’m not like the rest of these girls.”
My heart feels like it might pound out of my chest as I stand in this room alone with him. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted Parker. I knew I should have listened to my gut way back then. Now, I’ve wasted so much freaking time on a man who never even loved me.
His cousin isn’t even wrong. He lives in the trailer with his dad. Not even alone, because his mother kicked him out long ago for not being able to pay his bills.
I clench my fists at my side and sigh. “I’m so stupid.”
He frowns, looking me up and down before walking to the other side of the room and resting against the wall to give me some space. “Look, you're not stupid; you were just a kid. You didn’t know any better. You have been with him a long time.”
I watch as his shoulders sag and a smirk forms on his face.
“I was in the same boat as you. Fell hard in middle school. Thought she was my one and only for a long time. She got pregnant in high school, and I dropped out to help take care of my new family.” He chuckles.
“Little did I know, after throwing my life away and working on building skyscrapers just to survive, that she would cheat on me and I would mean nothing to her after so many years. But no one really knows what the other person is feeling on the inside.”
I frown. “I’m sorry that happened to you. My grandmother always used to say that karma was a bitch and what goes around comes around. Maybe they both will get what they deserve.”
He lets out a hardy laugh. “I lived with my grandparents growing up. I know the old saying very well.”
Suddenly, I feel connected to him in a way I didn’t before. “I lived with my grandparents till I was seven.”