Gage, Ronna - The Search is Over (Siren Publishing Classic) (2 page)

Everyone called him
a mean and obnoxious drunk.

I’m not that bad when I drink.

“You have a quick temper,”
they used to say to him.

Of course, he disagreed. He simply
didn’t have it in him to ever back down from a fight.
My friends finally realized to stay out of my way.
When they did, everything turned out cool.
Rafe liked to have a good time, but his badboy reputation drew in a plethora of young punks with bad attitudes. All of them tried to get in his face and were usually spoiling for a fight.
I hope I don’t have to throw down with anyone tonight
. He settled back, putting the thought out of his mind. No fights!
Tonight is strictly to have a good time and to get laid.

Rafe took a sip of beer and caught the eye of a pretty woman across the room.
And you are?
He racked his mind trying to come up with a name from the girls he knew in high school. Surely, she had gone to school with him. He watched as the sexy, blonde-haired woman circled the dining room to the kegs. She
easily
made her way around to his side, ignoring advances from the other men in the room.
She looked up at him with
big brown eyes,
filled
with that hero-worship that he’d known before he left the neighborhood. Chelsea had looked at him numerous times with that same look…the one that ultimately had gotten him hitched to a woman he really didn’t love.

She stood in front of him. Her eyes roamed over his body with a slow, intent gaze as she measured his person from his head to his toes, and then back to look directly into his eyes again. She gave him a teasing smile. “Are you Rafe Sines?”

Rafe folded his arms over his chest and returned the purposeful observation. The tight, low-cut blouse revealed the voluptuous curve of her breasts, tight black jeans settled low on her hips, and the sparkle of a belly button ring winked at him.
This evening is looking up.
“Could be.” He gave a shrug and a lopsided grin, a practiced seductive move. “Who wants to know?”

She took the cup of beer he held, brought it to her lips, and took a slow, sensual drink. Her fingernails skimmed his neck to his chin. She pulled him close to her lips. As he opened his for her, she shot the swallow of beer into his mouth. If that action wasn’t wild enough, she rubbed her body up against him.

“Just call me Liv.” She
sealed her answer with a kiss. Taking
the cup of beer, she retreated to the party in the living room.

Rafe looked at the two dumbstruck guys next to him. “Who the fuck was she?”

Ricky and Jase stood smiling. “Only Rafe Sines could get a woman to do that. You, my friend, have just met Liv. And take my word for it, everyone has been trying to get into her pants,” Ricky said as they eyed the popular Liv across the room.

“Where did she come from?” The new girl intrigued
Rafe. He wasn’t surprised that men were trying to get into her pants. The unsuccessful attempts did, though.

“She’s one of Jack Posen’s girls,” Jase answered.

Rafe did a double take.
Did I hear that right?
“Jack Posen? Damn, that guy is still around?” He hadn’t thought about Jack Posen in forever. The two were in an unofficial competition to see who could score with the most girls. That
little rivalry
usually kept them overlapping each other’s territory.
No harm done.

“Yeah, and if Liv is here”—Ricky looked around the party—“Jack isn’t too far away.”

As if on cue, Jack came into the kitchen with another girl on his arm. Jack’s eyes grew large, and his smile grew bigger. “Ho-ly shit! Rafe Sines, is that you?”
Jack shouted in surprise
.
His quick advancement to Rafe demonstrated his actual gladness to see him.

To see Jack Posen make a beeline for him stunned Rafe. He smiled with a genuine affection for his one-time rival. “Hey, Jack, how the hell are you?” He shook Jack’s hand.

The taller and thinner Jack didn’t look the same. His curly blond-brown hair had taken on an uncontrollable style. It was more than what Rafe remembered. Sparkling blue eyes revealed a passion for life, and his roguish smile had stirred a lot of women in Jack’s past. That love for life and lust flattered Jack’s untamable personality.

“I’m good,”
Jack answered
. “How are you?”

“Good,” he looked around the room. “Slow night.”

“How long have you been back in town?”

“I got back this week.” Rafe felt a bump at his arm. He looked to receive a second cup of beer that Jase handed him
.

Jack looked around the immediate area. “Where’s
Chelsea
?”

Rafe felt that sensation of failure hit his gut that always assaulted him when
Chelsea
’s name came up. Shaking it off, he smiled. “We’re divorced.”

Jack’s face changed. He showed actual displeasure. “Oh, man, I’m sorry. I hadn’t heard.”

“No problem, it happens even to the best of us.” Rafe eased the tension.

Jack narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “Do we hate her now?” he whispered with a conspirator’s jest.

Rafe grinned at the support. His rival was willing to talk trash about his ex-wife if he wanted. “No, it’s all right. We just didn’t work out.”

“It wasn’t meant to be.” Jack gave him a friendly slap on the arm.

Rafe noticed Liv coming toward him and Jack. He watched her make her way into the room. “I see you’re as busy as ever.”

Jack looked at the two girls, Liv on his left side and the other on stood on his right. “I’d like you to meet
Crystal
,” he said, introducing the new woman.

Rafe examined
Crystal
closely for a span of two seconds. Her black hair set atop her head in a claw-like clip, which kept the mass away from her face. He found her attractive, but she had an air of pretentiousness about her. She looked flawless. Her immaculate makeup evenly covered her face. Yet her brown eyes were cold.
Who can fuck that iceberg?
Her glaring eyes at the partygoers showed her distaste for this kind of crowd. The party blared with loud music, uproarious laughter, and with too much boozing immaturity for her liking.

“…and this is her friend, Liv.”

Liv smiled as she looked up at Jack “Yeah, we met earlier.” She then turned and gave Rafe a wink. “He gave me a sip of beer.”

Jack looked from Rafe to Liv. “I guess we need to go and meet
Crystal
’s brother. He isn’t one to go party hopping.”

Looking at
Crystal
, Rafe could see why. If her sibling were anything like her, he wouldn’t be into hopping the neighborhood parties.
But what’s the connection with Liv?

Liv placed a hand on Rafe’s shoulder. She tiptoed until she came eye-to-eye with him. She withdrew a slip of paper out of her bra and handed it to him. “Call me,” she whispered. “Anytime.”

Shaking his head, Jack took the piece of paper from Rafe’s hand. “Right. She’s engaged to
Crystal
’s brother. Right now, she’s upset with him, but the two will be
back together
by morning.”

Rafe smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He looked at Liv. “Do you always carry a slip of paper in your bra?”

Liv smiled. “You would be surprised what I have in places that only you can see.”

Jack physically turned her away from Rafe. “I better get her out of here before her behavior comes back and bites both of us in the ass,” he said with a look of warning.

Rafe bowed up his chest. He’d finally got the answer to the question that had plagued him for months. “I still got it.”

Jack cocked an eyebrow and fished in his back pocket for his wallet. “Well, call me so we can use that power of persuasion over women for our own selfish and dark needs.” Jack handed him a business card.

Rafe looked at it. “Not bad, you own your own home repair and improvement business.”

“Handyman extraordinaire.” Jack bowed slightly.

“Come on, Jack, I’m bored,”
Crystal
complained, pulling him in the direction of the doorway.

“I guess we’ll see you later.” Jack led the two women through the house.

Rafe could hear the good-byes that followed the three of them out the front door. He looked around the room. Boys from the neighborhood had turned to men. The girls had turned into women. Couples sat together on chairs, or other furniture. Men were in the corner bullshitting about various defeats, or just reminiscing about high school. Rafe realized that the kids of the neighborhood had
turned the legal age to drink and party
, but they still partied like they were sixteen. And the topics of conversation were pretty much the same. Jobs, school, extreme sports, and power drinking. He had that familiar feeling of home. He pumped the keg for another cup of beer.

Here’s to the ageless neighborhood kids.