One of the Guys (2 page)

Jaynie loved him.

Yeah, she knew that Dean had threesome fantasies. After all, that’s what had gotten them into a couple of fights in college, but since that night—her brain automatically shied away from the night back in college when somebody had slipped her a roofie.

Although she hadn’t been hurt, she’d never gotten past the fear she’d felt when she woke up in the ER.

It seemed as though that night had scared Dean as much as it scared her and he’d never mentioned his ménage fantasies again. She thought maybe he’d outgrown them.

But now, staring at her bed while Dean and Landon tag-teamed Kit, she thought,
Obviously not
.

Jaynie felt like a damn fool.

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Kit squealed—a kittenish little sound that suited her nickname—and arched up against Dean’s tanned, muscled chest. Landon reached around from his position behind Kit and grabbed her too-perfect tits, squeezing.

Jaynie couldn’t take another second. She dropped the pizza box she was holding and reached over to flip on the light. Part of her just wanted to run away and hide, but her pride demanded a little more. Scalping the bitch, and the two pricks, would have suited her fine but she wasn’t sure she could trust herself not to kill somebody.

“Am I interrupting something?” she asked, smiling brittlely as the threesome looked her way.

Kit gasped and her eyes widened dramatically. Jaynie saw through it, though. The deceptive little bitch had been planning this. She’d been hot for Dean since day one.

Fine
,
he
’
s all yours
,
sugar
, Jaynie thought, misery and rage swamping her.

Landon hardly reacted at all. He flicked Jaynie a look but kept right on pumping away in Kit’s ass, his hips slapping against her, muttering under his breath and grunting—sounds that reminded Jaynie of a pig rooting for food.

Jaynie stood there, her face flushed with anger. Bone tired from an early emergency, Jaynie had been looking forward to a long hot soak and a glass of wine. When Brian had offered to cover the rest of her shift for her, she’d been so grateful she could have kissed him.

Exhausted, she’d wanted nothing more than to cuddle against Dean, eat some pizza and get to bed early. But now that weariness was forgotten, burned away in the heat of anger.

The scrubs she had on were clean but no amount of washing could get rid of the bloodstains. Her feet were bare. The clothes didn’t matter though. Even in worn, messy clothes and bare feet, her hair tangled, she was still an amazingly beautiful woman.

And always, Jaynie was completely unaware of how she looked, her face flushed with emotion and her green eyes glittering.

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Dean gaped at her and snapped his jaw closed. Jaynie could all but see the wheels spinning in his head as he scrambled for something to say. Through clenched teeth, she snapped, “Save it, pal.”

She spun on her heel and stalked away, her feet all but soundless on the carpet.

Tears burned her eyes as she stormed away from Dean’s house, but she blinked them back. She blinked them back as she climbed into her car, as she started it and as she drove off with a squeal of her tires. She held them back all the way through town, even though they burned in her eyes like alcohol thrown on an open wound.

It wasn’t until she pulled into the driveway to her best friend’s house that she finally let the tears fall.

* * * * *

The door flew open just as Brian Lasher was on his way out. He ended up with his arms full of a teary-eyed Jaynie. That in itself was enough of an oddity to have him forget what he was doing. He tightened his hands on her arms when she tried to pull back. “Hey, kid, what’s wrong?”

Jaynie jerked against him and muttered, “Leave me alone. Where is Kate?” At the mention of her name, Kate came floating through the arched doorway that led to the living room. His sister looked like a Barbie doll, wearing a pink dress that, in Brian’s opinion, was about four inches too short and even though it was a Wednesday night and she had no plans, she had her hair and makeup done to a T.

She had a smile on her face but it faded when she saw Jaynie. “What’s wrong?” A sob escaped Jaynie’s lips and Brian looked helplessly at his sister. “I don’t know.” Jaynie pulled away and rushed for Kate. Kate gave him a dismissing look. “Come on, sweetie…”

He started to follow but heard a familiar little tune and glanced outside the open front door. Jaynie’s cell phone was lying on the porch. She must have dropped it. The 13

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little light was flashing and the phone was playing “Hotel California”. He stooped and picked it up. He didn’t know the number displayed, though he recognized the name.

Dean Albridge.

Jaynie’s fiancé. Brian grimaced but flipped the phone open. “Hello?” There was a pause and then Dean asked, “Brian?”

“Yeah.”

“Ahhh…is Jaynie over there?”

Brian wasn’t sure why he did it, but instead of telling the truth, he lied. “No. She was over earlier with Kate and must have forgotten her phone here. You tried her house or the office?”

The office was the small veterinarian clinic located on Highway 59 a little north of Gulf Shores. She’d started working there in high school and had continued to work there during the summers after Brian bought it from the previous owner. Three years ago she had bought into the small practice and now she was Brian’s partner instead of his employee.

Jaynie was a damn good vet. She spent most of her time with the animals, which was how she liked it. Jaynie had little use for most people, so Brian couldn’t understand why she was still so crazy over somebody like Dean Albridge. He’d been the stereotypical high school jock, with the exception of having Jaynie as his girlfriend instead of the prom queen.

It was the man’s only redeeming quality, in Brian’s opinion.

“Yeah, checked both places. No answer at home and nobody answered when I called the private line at the office.”

From the living room, he could hear Kate’s voice rising and he edged a little farther outside and shut the door. “Can’t help you, man. If I see her, you want me to tell her you’re looking for her?”

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One of the Guys

“No—wait. Yeah, tell her I’m looking for her. I really need to speak with her. It’s important.”

The line went dead and Brian looked at the phone and then turned it off. Whatever was going on with Jaynie had something to do with Dean. Brian didn’t know what, and frankly, he didn’t give a damn. But the bastard had made Jaynie cry and Brian could count on one hand how often he’d seen that.

He started to go back inside, but instead, he left. Whatever had Jaynie so upset was something Kate could handle. The two girls had been best friends practically from the crib. Kate could handle crying.

Brian, though—crying made him feel pretty useless. Especially coming from Jaynie.

She was Kate’s best friend, but she was Brian’s friend too. They had spent plenty of weekends fishing out on Wolf Bay and diving out in the Gulf. She was practically one of the guys and Brian was pretty sure that he’d be equally as uncomfortable if one of the guys had shown up at his doorstep crying.

Granted, he wasn’t so sure he’d be tempted to punch somebody’s lights out for making one of them cry.

* * * * *

A pint of Häagen-Dazs and two margaritas later, Jaynie fell asleep on Kate’s couch.

The doorbell probably wouldn’t have fazed her if her bladder hadn’t started to intrude on her alcohol-induced sleep. She had to pee, though, and she was about ready to roll off the couch to do it when she heard him.

Dean’s voice. Kate’s voice intruded and Jaynie had to grin despite herself when Kate said, “If you take so much as one more step into my house, Dean Albridge, I will call the police. Do you understand me?”

Both of them had been born in Alabama but Jaynie couldn’t quite manage the genteel Southern lady act. It was second nature to Kate, though. Under that soft 15

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feminine exterior, Kate was made of pure steel and Jaynie knew she wasn’t just bluffing about calling the cops.

“Look, Kathryn, I just need to speak with her.”

“No,” Kate replied icily. “You don’t. If she wants to speak to you and I can’t manage to talk her out of it, then Jaynie knows where to find you. But you are not talking to her here, and not tonight.”

Dean’s voice got a little edgy. “You don’t even want to hear my side.”
Side
?
Jaynie thought, a little astounded. Her dismay was echoed by Kate as her friend demanded, “You have a side? She walked in on you and that jerk-off friend having a threesome with the bitch across the street. What side? You two have been together since high school. What in hell were you thinking?” Then Dean responded and Jaynie wished she could just disappear into the ground and never be seen or heard from again. “I was thinking I needed something a little different. Needed some fun. At least Kit isn’t afraid to be a woman. Shit, I hardly know what it’s like being with somebody who knows how to do something with her hair besides shove inside a hat or wear it in a ponytail. Somebody who realized that just because you work with animals all day doesn’t mean you have to walk around looking like you fell asleep with them.”

The knife of pain pierced her heart and the sob escaped her before she could stop it.

It was drowned out by the sound of Kate slapping Dean.

Dean snarled, “You little bitch—”

Jaynie rolled off the couch and knuckled her tears away before she stormed out of the living room. “Call her a bitch again, Dean. See what happens.” She shoved the pain away in favor of the anger. Anger was so much easier to handle.

Dean looked at her and relief crossed his features, as though he hadn’t thought he’d actually see her. Then he flushed red and she knew he was wondering just how much she’d heard. “Jaynie—”

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She curled her lip at him. “Get the hell out of here, Dean. I don’t want to talk to you.”

In a frustrated voice, Dean said, “I’m not leaving until we talk.” Kate gave him a sugar-sweet smile. “Yes, you are, unless you want to see if I’m joking about calling the police.”

He rounded on Kate and snarled, “Would you shut the fuck up? This doesn’t concern you.”

Jaynie held up a hand when Kate would have responded. “No, Katie. This is mine.

Don’t talk to my best friend like that. Ever. And don’t think it doesn’t concern her. I came here, didn’t I?”

Dean started toward her and Kate glanced at the phone on the small table in the hallway. A small smile curled her lips and the look on her face was familiar to Jaynie.

Come on
—
just give me a reason
. He gave Kate an ugly look.

Jaynie didn’t know why she hadn’t seen it sooner. But she saw it then. Dean didn’t like Kate. At all. Kate wasn’t overly fond of Dean but Jaynie hadn’t realized it was a two-way street. It was obvious that he wanted to come farther inside. Very obvious, but he stayed where he was. He might not like Kate but he knew she meant what she said.

He pointedly looked away from Kate and focused on Jaynie, giving her that boyish grin she’d always loved. “Jaynie, we need to talk.” Jaynie shrugged. “I don’t see why.” She glanced down then and realized she was still wearing his ring. The princess-cut diamond was a full carat. It had seemed a little big to her but she only took it off for surgeries in the clinic and when she was showering. Slowly she tugged it off. There was a narrow strip of paler skin and Jaynie wiggled her fingers, disturbed at how light, how strange her hand felt. “Except this.

Here’s your ring back, Dean. Now get the hell out.” She hurled it at him and he caught it just before it would have hit him in the face.

She should have thrown it a little harder—maybe she could have put his eye out with the damn thing.

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“Jaynie…” Dean said, his voice husky and soft. He did it on purpose. Dean knew how much she loved his voice, how much she loved for him to say her name just like that. Most of the time, when he said her name that way, she was ready to strip to the skin and do pretty much whatever he wanted.

Well, almost everything.

Now though, all she wanted to do was hit him. In a cool voice she said, “It’s time for you to go, Dean.”

Whatever tenuous control he had on his temper snapped and he glared at her, his face flushed and his eyes glinting with fury. “The only time you know how to be a woman is when you’re naked in my bed. Did it ever once occur to you that I’d like somebody who could be a woman out of bed as well as in it?” Jaynie glanced down at her chest and then up at him. “I didn’t realize I took my tits off when I got out of bed, Dean. I
am
a woman. I never acted otherwise.” His derisive snort cut almost as deeply as his words. No, Jaynie wasn’t big on messing with her hair and she had better things to do than put on makeup when she’d sweat it off within an hour. But she was a woman. She liked pretty things, she liked being female and she’d thought he loved her the way she was.

“Jaynie, you wouldn’t know how to be a real woman if your life depended on it.

Shit, ever since college, you’re so uptight, it’s amazing you can fuck without freezing up.”

Oh. Oh shit. Now that
hurt
. Was she a little messed up from what could have happened?
Would
have happened if Brian and Dean hadn’t been there?

Blinking back the tears, she stared at him, absolutely miserable. Kate looked at her, and distantly Jaynie saw how pissed Kate was on her behalf. She only wished she could be pissed as well, instead of hurt.

“You son of a bitch,” Kate snarled. “You arrogant ass.”

“Stay out of this, bitch,” Dean snapped.

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One of the Guys

Jaynie crossed the distance between them in two long strides. She was reeling from the pain and when he turned on Kate again, the anger swelled inside her like a lifesaver.