7. Jake
JAKE
This wasn’t my first time being asked to play second banana, although, I vastly preferred being asked to play the only banana at a party with two peaches.
Three peaches could be fine, too.
Hell, why not four?
Point being, I was a red-blooded man who liked women. I liked them a lot. As in, women were proof that we, as men, were not worthy.
And we had to damn well treat the ladies as such—as the worthiest.
But as I went home that night, downed a glass of ice water in my kitchen, and contemplated tomorrow night’s dessert for three, I was a hundred percent good with the situation.
Not because that kind of a one-plus-one-plus-one was on my bucket list (which would require reams of paper to catalog all the dirty things I’ve pictured.)
But I was good with Lily’s invitation because I was game for anything. When it came down to it, I wasn’t that different from Finn. I subscribed to one simple philosophy in the bedroom: make her come and make her come often.
Then do it once more for good measure.
Generally speaking, if something got a woman off, I’d be doing it for her.
If two guys pleasuring her worked for Lily, I’d be happy to help float her double-decker boat.
To be clear, I didn’t want to see Finn in the buff.
Also, I didn’t harbor any unrequited love for my best friend’s girl.
I’d said yes because some decisions were really simple.
Sure, I’d thought about it when he asked.
I’d considered all the angles, while I’d surveyed the casino floor, thinking of bets and payoffs.
Thinking of this city. Of the chances people took.
This was a city rich with secrets.
Full of stories.
And it was a place that offered itself as a haven for pushing boundaries.
So this was a boundary they wanted to cross.
I got that. I could respect that.
And more so, I believed that at times like these you needed to say yes.
Put simply, when your best bud asked you to do him a solid and help fulfill his woman’s fantasy—the same woman who’d turned his life around and made him embrace every goddamn day again—you didn’t want to hear that he knocked on the door of the Magic Mike stripper or the Chippendale dancer and asked that guy instead.
You wanted to know he came to someone he could trust with his most important request.
Someone who respected the sanctity of the love between him and his girl.
I knew those two.
I understood their connection.
And I’d helped my friend get his act together. I’d helped him when he’d needed it most.
I suspected that’s why he had asked me.
Because we had a foundation. We had mutual respect.
As I brushed my teeth and listened in the quiet to my thoughts, it occurred to me that I was actually honored that they’d put so much trust in me.
But I wasn’t a saint. I wasn’t just doing a buddy a solid. Hell, there’d be no hardship at all in pleasing a woman like Lily.
She was a stunner.
There was only one little issue. It had been a few months for me, and chances were I was going to be turned on past one hundred on the dial of ten.
But if I fired early I’d blow the whole thing. That’d be a helluva way to ruin my buddy’s gift to the love of his life.
There was only one solution.
As I slid under my covers that night, I pictured kittens. Cute little kittens tussling and playing. Then duckies. Adorable baby chicks swimming to see their mama.
Yup.
If matters got too heated, I’d have a few perfect turn-me-off images.
For now, I made sure I had a solid night’s sleep then a hard-as-hell workout the next morning.
And I took matters into my own hands. Three times.
Then I went to work, zeroing in on my caseload, chatting with clients, talking with producers. Adam and I touched base on the deals I was inking for him with a cable network.
“And I gave my usual closing line,” I said to him on the phone.
“And what’s that?”
“I asked, ‘Is this the best you can do?’”
“And does that work?” he asked.
“Considering the network just came back with a fifty grand increase in this streaming rights deal, I’d say it worked.” I grinned, pleased as hell with my work. I was firing on all cylinders.
“Dude. You are the man,” he said, emphasizing each word.
“I am,” I said.
And when I hung up, I felt that way. I was the man. The man who got stuff done. The man who took care of his clients. The man who looked out for his friends.
And tonight I’d be the man who helped a buddy.
I was very much looking forward to lending a hand. By the time evening rolled around, it was game on, ducks and kittens on deck.