Shark Out of Water (Grab Your Pole, #3) (29 page)

Then he produced a piece of paper and as he verbally asked, “What are we playing?” he wrote down:
What did I miss?

I answered, “Five card draw,” and wrote:
Not much, just C trying to not fidget.

I started dealing, actually, I think I threw him eight cards and gave myself like eleven because I was paying more attention to Camie and Mia than our “card game,” but whatever, and Jeff was writing again, but this time when I read what he asked, my answer of,
???
,
came with a confused look as well.

Do you think your grandpa would take Katy’s ring back?

Okay, let me explain; my family dabbles a little in the jewelry and diamond market and that’s how I know about Jeff and Kate getting engaged. Jeff went to my grandfather who’s a retired, which is to say a bored Master Jeweler, and asked him to design Kate’s engagement ring. That’s also how I know about what Tristan gave Camie for her birthday. Because he’s bored, extremely talented, and really enjoys playing with and designing jewelry, my grandfather was pretty much thrilled to be enlisted in coming up with a one of a kind piece and gladly put himself at Tristan’s beck and call every time there was something Tristan thought of that he wanted to add to it.

But back to Jeff…

She can use the $ to pay for my funeral.
He wrote when he read my question marks and saw my face. Then he discarded half of his cards and instead of being dealt any; he picked up three more from the deck.

Again, ???
I wrote and threw a couple of my cards onto the pile. I didn’t pick up any to replace them. Celebrity Poker Tournament, here we come…

T’s going to kill me.

Why?
I scribbled and noticed I had a full house and a mini straight goin’…

M doesn’t really “know” who C is, but C “kind of” knows who M is to T….I sort of introduced them at W’s party.
He wrote and then looked at me and nodded slowly with his eyes closed when mine flew from my cards to his face asking, “You WHAT?!”

Well,
that
was something I didn’t know about. That also better explains why Camie’s being so weird with Mia. I thought it was just because Melissa had pointed her out as the girl Tristan made-out with when they were kind of dating a couple years ago.

Shaking my head at him in disbelief I wrote:
I’m sure he’ll give Kate a good price, but I’ll call and ask tonight.

We were both fairly distracted from Jeff’s untimely demise when Mia moved around behind Camie to work on her hair and saw the tattoo…and
recognized
it.

“My brother does good work,” Mia said in sincere compliment, which automatically made Camie stiffen.

“H—how do you know your brother did it?” Camie asked her and it sounded like there was an accusation in there, so I glanced at Jeff. He tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows in answer like he was trying to decide the same thing as me.

“I can almost always spot his art, he’s got a distinctive style,” she said and Camie, Jeff and I started to relax, but then Mia blew it and had Camie back to impersonating a glacier and had Jeff’s and my heads whipping up to question each other with wide eyes when Mia informed all three of us that she’s actually
seen
Tristan’s tattoo before. “And besides, I’ve seen the bookend of this…but at the time, I didn’t know his had a mate.”

My head was reeling and Jeff looked just as shocked as I was, and I knew both of our minds were racing to figure out when Mia might’ve recently seen Tristan without a shirt. And if he
was
half-naked with her in the last few weeks, was that as naked as he got? I’m tempted to say not likely because if it weren’t for Camie, I’d probably say no way in hell…but, Camie’s a
huge
factor here so I really just don’t know. And reading Jeff’s
WTF??? Do
you
know anything about this?
it appears he doesn’t know either.

I was answering,
Not a single thing
,
when it got worse…

“It’s some kind of contract, right?” Mia asked with a warm smile in both her voice and face, displaying a startling amount of knowledge about something only a very small handful of people are privy to. Hell, I don’t think anyone aside from Camie and Tristan really knows what it all means still.

“How do you know it’s a contract?” Camie asked in such a small voice, I could picture the tears she was probably fighting back in anticipation of the answer.

“Well, he didn’t explain what any of it meant that night, but he called it a contract or something, and I know Tristan well enough to know what most of this symbolism might mean to him anyway…and I gotta say, I’m really kind of surprised he wasn’t with you at Wayne’s party when you and I met,” That was when Mia put it together and recognized that the girl sitting in front of her was probably not enjoying this one sided, yet highly personal conversation she’s been unwillingly embroiled in, “Oh Jesus…that’s why you’re so nervous, isn’t it?”

“N—no…yes.
Shit!
Oh God…I’m gonna be sick,” Camie blurted and went to cover her face.

Mia sat down in front of her and pulled Camie’s hands away from her face, looked her in the eyes, and then with so much compassion and kindness you wouldn’t expect someone with the power to demolish another person verbally would’ve been able to use, she said, “NO, you’re not. Listen to me, Camie, I’m
very
sorry. I didn’t know who you were to him that night and I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. When I saw the picture of his tattoo in my brother’s shop and Gary told me it was some sort of contract or agreement, I knew Tristan thought he’d found what he’s been looking for and I was genuinely really happy for him. He’s wanted this for as long as I’ve known him and I wouldn’t ever have knowingly treated someone who’s that special to him so flippantly. But, he wasn’t there and I assumed he would’ve been with the girl he’d committed himself to so when Jeff introduced us like he did,” This was when Mia subtly but pointedly threw Jeff a chastising look to which he responded with an apologetic shrug of his shoulders and a grimace that relayed the fact that he completely understands how much he fucked up. I was just shaking my head and wondering how, exactly, that introduction was made, “Well, I thought you were just one of…them. What I guess I’m trying to say is that I know
a lot
of people, but there are very few I can honestly say are my friends and although Tristan and I have never had a traditional friendship, we
are
actually extremely good friends and I care very much for him, and because you’re important to him, you’re important to me and by making you feel the way I’m sure you did, well, I just wouldn’t do that to one of my few real friends. I hope you can believe that, but can I ask though,
why
wasn’t he there with you?”

Jesus, she handled that well. I think all three of us, me, Jeff, and Camie, were breathing the biggest collective sigh of relief ever imaginable on hearing that Mia’s tattoo intelligence came from Gary and not from seeing it live or being told by Tristan himself, and I had to take my hat off to Mia for being vague with her wording of “them” as well. She could’ve meant one of us, the select few people who know about her,
or
, she could’ve meant them as in one of Tristan’s previous playthings. Jeff and I did, however, share a questioning look about Mia knowing anything about Tristan’s search for a soul mate. I don’t think he or I ever realized Tristan might’ve openly confided in Mia about truly intimate and personal things like his hopes and dreams. He’s very social, yes, but it’s superficial. He tends to keep people, even those he would call good friends, at arms length and he’s practically an emotional recluse. I’m fairly certain the only reason
I
know anything about what he wants out of life is due to our link because aside from Jeff, Tristan keeps his feelings pretty much to himself and always has.

I turned my attention back to the girls when I heard Camie take a deep breath and was, again, a little surprised to hear her answer Mia’s question with naked trust, almost like she and Mia had instantly bonded like sisters or something.

“Because he made a mistake, Mia. I’m not as important or as special to him as you seem to think…he made our contract null and void when he broke up with me on my birthday. Because I wouldn’t have sex with him the night before.”

Mia’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, then she got to her feet, studied Camie’s tattoo closely and as she asked, “
He
broke up with
you
? And you’re
sure
that’s why?” Mia pinned both Jeff and me with her eyes, questioning.

I really don’t know a lot about the kind of person Mia is or, obviously, what kind of relationship she has with Tristan, but after listening to her, I gather she’s compassionate and more perceptive than your average bear. Plus, she apparently knows Tristan better than anyone realized so when Jeff and I gave each other a quick look and I saw my thoughts reflected in his eyes, I knew we could feel safe with Mia knowing that wasn’t what happened. Jeff and I silently agreed and we both answered her with an infinitesimal shake of our heads as Camie nodded hers, shrugged her shoulders a little and said, “But Kate thinks he might’ve cheated on me after I told him no at my birthday party and then felt guilty about it and that’s why he broke up with me. Actually, she um…she thought he might’ve cheated on me with you…”

Both Mia and I shot Jeff a look and I think it’s safe to say his disgusted eye-roll could’ve been interpreted as him saying, “FUCK! Katy…I
swear
to God…”

“No, not me. And Camie, I understand it’s not my place, b—” Mia started to say but her words were cut off by Melissa storming back into the gym, practically enraged.

“Where is he?!
Oh!
Pete, you don’t have a date to the dance yet, right?” She demanded to know and took me by so much surprise that I couldn’t even formulate a real word in which to answer her.

“Dyiuhhh…?!” Yeah. It’s my new way of saying WHAT?!

“Good, the cheating bastard just broke up with me so you’re gonna take me to the dance, just wanted to let you know.”

Dyiuhhh the fuck?!

A different take on the Battle of the Sexes ~ Tristan

I think I must’ve just barely caught the tail end of a what I’m assuming was a bad scene between Melissa and Brandon, because normally, your girlfriend doesn’t throw knives at your back with her eyes and slam a door when you’re walking away from her after you just gave her what looked to be a pretty tender and meaningful kiss.

“Yeah, you saw that right…I, ah…I just broke up with her. So, I guess I’ll be gettin’ my own brimstone tattoo from Hell…” Brandon said and cleared his throat uncomfortably, and speaking as someone who’s essentially been there, I feel I can say he did it a mite transparently too, letting me know he needs a friend who’ll really understand what he’s going through.

“You want me to tell you it gets better?” I asked.

“Only if you can be really fuckin’ convincing when you lie.”

“I can do that, unless Jillian or Kate happens to be lurking around,” I admitted and got a small chuckle out of him.

“Nah, don’t bother…I knew I was fucked even before I made the decision to do it. I think I’m gonna go get obliterated though, wanna come along and get stupid with me? I’m thinking since I won’t be using my dick for a while, now might be the perfect time to get another piercing too, but I’ll need a ride for that and hey, maybe we’ll get lucky and run into a couple of bigfoots with tits,” he offered and started laughing half-heartedly at himself and without the specific words, Brandon told me he really doesn’t wanna start the long road to recovery by himself. And I don’t blame him. Would I had been smart enough to enlist a friend when I started my journey…I wouldn’t have ended up face down in the ocean.

“Mmm, I can hang with you in a little over an hour or so after the rehearsal and I’ll drive you no problem, but here’s the deal, man, I’ve kinda given up all booze and I don’t think hooking up with Bigf—
fuck me
…” I barely breathed and instantly had to stomp on my first impulse, which was to turn around, blow off this dress rehearsal shit and totally school Brandon in what it’s
really
like to get obliterated and stupid when I saw Mia walk out of the gym and start towards us.

“What?” He asked and looked over his shoulder.

“My fucking virgin girlfriend no doubt just had her hair and makeup done by my previously somewhat steady lay…” I said and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping I was seeing things.

“What?!”

“I’m gonna fly through this so try to keep up here…Mia, twenty-one, highly intelligent, wicked hot, incurable insomniac, likes to keep busy, likes experiments, and especially likes to party, went to cosmetology school during her junior year and did that through her senior year and college, wasn’t making any money so she sold adult toys on the side, quit when she got a double degree in physical therapy and nutrition with a minor in psychology in only two, short, sleep deprived years, got bored with that and went back to being a cosmetologist but did it in New York, made me when I was twelve, we’ve been fucking on and off ever since, had the best sex in our
lives
together testing that toy shit out, haven’t seen or heard from her since she left in June, just came out of the gym where I’m guessing she’s been doing hair and makeup for the girls in the fashion show including my
hopefully
still clueless, virgin girlfriend, and
absolutely none
of what I just said is for public consumption…” I spit out as fast as I could, trying to catch Brandon up on how even
more
fucked my life just got before Mia reached us.

“Oh fuck…”
He said under his breath and looked back at me with understanding.

“Yeah. I’m not sure but I think Satan just stoked the fucking fire in my personal hell…”

Alright, I’m sure you’re dying to know, so, here’s the back story on me and Mia…

Sorta like Jeff, I’ve known Wayne and his entire family since we were little kids except we didn’t go to the same elementary school or junior high school because of where the school boundaries were drawn, but our parents are friends and we all used to go to the river together where our respective families have houses next door to each other. But it was a weeklong trip to Hawaii that I went on with Wayne’s family where it, more or less, all started the summer before I went into sixth grade and Mia went into tenth. The first night we were there, Mia and the friend she brought for that trip were complaining about guys and Mia’s insensitive ex, whom she’d broken up with the week before. And get this; she dumped him on her fucking sixteenth birthday for committing the offense of treating her like a handservant when they were around his friends and for the crime of not getting her off and falling asleep on her right after sex on multiple occasions…oh, the irony. Anyhow, the way it was said made me picture a trial without judge or jury so I couldn’t help but ask if she’d ever talked to him about the stuff that was bugging her before she broke up with him, but before Mia could say anything, her friend answered for her and said something along the ridiculous lines of that being unnecessary, any person with feelings would be pissed about his boorish behavior and he should just know that as a matter of principle.