Uncontrollable (25 page)

I almost laugh at how attached he is to this cat.

Tate sighs. “I don’t want to be responsible for it.
And it will claw at shit.”

 “You won’t be. And she’s declawed,” he says with a
pouty face.

 Tate looks at me, and I raise my beer. I didn’t
know he was bringing a cat.

“Come on,” Parker holds up the cat, and he smiles
at Tate. “Puss puss has to stay.”

Josh spits out his beer as he laughs. “Puss puss?”
he asks laughing.

 “Yes,” Parker says placing her down on his lap
once again and starts to pet her. “She’s my good girl.” He praises her like a
mother would her child.

 “Fine,” Tate finally growls before frowning at the
fat cat.

 “Thank you.” Parker looks down and runs his hand
down her back. He then looks to the TV. “Is this your shitty excuse of a
bachelor party?” Parker asks frowning at it. “Where are the naked girls?”

 Micah laughs. “My bachelor party was Vegas. Were
you that drunk that you don’t remember that?”

 “No. I remember alright, but your wife was there.
That’s not a bachelor party.”

 “What would you consider a bachelor party?” I ask
tipping my beer back.

 He looks over at me with a serious look on his
face. “Anything that shows nipples and some pussy.”

 I point to his cat in his lap. “There’s your pussy
for the evening. And your entire life has been a bachelor party. One night
watching hockey with the guys won’t kill you.”

 He huffs as he sinks down into his seat.

 Tate gets up from his recliner when there’s a
knock at the front door. “Hey,” he says sounding surprised. “What are you doing
here?”

 I hear a girl giggle, and I roll my eyes as Parker
sits up and adjusts himself. “Well, you told us you were getting a roommate,
and we thought we would bring you guys something for dinner,” a high pitch
voice says.

Parker looks over at us with a big smile on his
face and mouths
we.
Then holds up two fingers as if we didn’t understand
what that meant.

There’s a moment of silence before Tate speaks
again. “Okay. Come on in.”

 Tate then appears as he comes around the corner
into the living room. A tall blonde and an even taller brunette follow shortly
behind him both carrying a dish of something.

“Guys, this is Jeannette,” he gestures to the
blonde, and she raises her hand as she waves at us. “And this is Christy,” he
gestures to the brunette who says hello.

“Hello, ladies.” Parker lays his charm on thick.

I nod my head, and Josh mumbles a hello as well.
Micah is too busy on his phone, texting Holly I’m sure. She is spending the
evening with her mother tonight, so I’m sure she is probably going bat shit
crazy.

“So who is the new roommate?” the blonde asks.

“That would be me.” Parker raises his hand with a
smirk.

 The blonde, Jeanette, raises her dish and speaks.
“I made fettuccini alfredo for you guys.”

 Parker looks over at Tate. “Do women always show
up with dinner?” His mouth is half open as in shock.

 Tate shrugs before plopping back down in his
recliner.

The brunette, Christy laughs. “We do it often. If
we don’t he’ll starve. He can’t cook for shit.”

 “Hey that’s not true. I have a microwave,” Tate
says in defense.

 “We brought dessert too,” Christy adds.

Parker rubs his hands together. “Hope you are the
dessert.” He wiggles his eyebrows making the girls laugh.

I sit back and watch them flirt back and forth. I
have to ask myself,
was I that annoying? Did all the women act that stupid?

“You guys are watching hockey?” Jeanette asks
looking at the TV.

 “Yeah,” Tate answers, “Football is over so we have
to watch something.”

She frowns. “I hate football, it’s so barbaric.”

 I smile. Angel loves football, and I love that
about her. She even loves it more when they start throwing their helmets and
pushing each other around.

“I’ve been trying to get them to go to a strip
club,” Parker says as he points his longneck over at Micah. “He’s getting
married in two days.”

Micah starts shaking his head quickly and the
blonde bounces up and down excitedly. “I have a girlfriend who strips. She has
lots of hot friends.”

“We’re not going to a strip club,” Tate states and
then gives Parker a hard glare.

 “Oh.” She frowns. “They can come here,” she
suggests.

 “No,” we all say in unison. Well, except Parker.

The blonde frowns and then looks at the dish in her
hand as if she just realizes she’s still holding it. “Let’s take these to the
kitchen,” she says to the other girl before they walk out of the living room
and to the kitchen.

“Tate?” Parker whispers harshly. “Which one do you
want?”

 “Have them both.” He waves his hand in the air.
“It can be your welcome home gift.”

 Parker claps his hands as places his cat on the
floor beside his chair before he stands up and fixes his shirt. “Don’t mind me
later. I’m a screamer.” He then walks on after them.

“I hope he’s joking,” Tate smirks.

 “He’s not.” I take a drink of my beer. “I’ve
fucked in the same room as him. He’s vocal,” I say with all seriousness.

 Tate chokes on his beer as he laughs. “This could
be interesting.”

 “You’re really gonna give him both?” Josh asks
wide-eyed. “The blonde one is really into you.”

Tate sits there texting on his phone. Once he’s
done he lifts his head to see we are all staring at him. “Did you say
something?”

Josh repeats himself. “That blonde seemed really
into you. Why are you throwing them both to Parker?”

Tate lifts his phone. “I already have one coming
over.”

I lean back into the couch and take a sip of my
beer. This could get interesting indeed.

“So how did last night go?”
I ask Tate as I lean over to line up the cue ball. We didn’t stay over at his
house very late last night. We had a few beers then went on our way. When the
girl Tate actually invited over showed up, you could see the tension from the
other two.

 “I guess it was okay. Cindy and I went to bed
after you guys left. Then when we were done, she left.” He shrugs. “I never had
to hear Parker scream.” He smiles. “So all in all it was a good night.”

 “What’s the story with Cindy?” I ask curious. She
didn’t look like someone he would go for. She had real short black hair with
red streaks that she wore spiked. She wore a short skirt with stockings and
combat boots. It was a sight to see compared to the other two girls who showed
up.

“I met Cindy one night when I went to see Missy’s
brother’s band play. She was in the all-girl band that played before his did.”
He stands and walks over to the pool table to take his shot. “We just started
talking and then started to hook up.”

 “So it’s nothing serious?” I ask.

He lets out a sigh and straightens before he turns
to look at me. “Not you too.”

“‘Not me too’ what?”

 He glares at me. “Sam asked me the personal ‘why
don’t you date Missy’? ‘Why are you not getting serious with that one girl I
saw you with’ questions a few months back. Now you’re doing the same.”

 “No I’m not,” I deny.

“So then what are you doing?” he questions.

 We could play this game, but I wanna know what
he’s thinking. Tate is hard to read. He keeps his emotions pretty hidden.
Unless he’s angry, which is most of the time. When it comes to guys, it’s
pretty easy to tell when they are into a girl for more than sex. And I know he
feels more for Missy. “Why haven’t you spoke to Missy?”

He huffs as he spins around giving me his back.
“Has my sister turned you into a fucking chick, Slade?” he asks dryly.

 I chuckle. “Not the last time I checked.”

 “Then why do you care about me and Missy?”

 “Because men who fuck women don’t usually ignore
them unless there is a reason.”What I used to do was just move on to the next.
He acts like he’s walking on eggshells when he’s around her. If he didn’t feel
so awkward he wouldn’t treat her different.

 He spins back around to face me. “What would you
like me to say? I already told you I don’t love her.”

I arch an eyebrow daring him to say that again with
more feeling. He totally loves her.

“And she deserves more than someone using her. And
that’s exactly what I would be doing; using her for my own selfish needs. There
are plenty of other women who I can do that with. As you saw last night.”

 And those words just proved my thought. I nod my
head. “I did see that.”

 “We both get what we want, and then they fucking
leave. Missy deserves someone who will cuddle with her and tell her sweet shit.
I’m just not that guy.”

I smirk. “What is so funny?” he demands.

“I used to feel the same way until I met your
sister,” I say truthfully.

 “Well, let me reassure you that will not be the
case with Missy and myself.” He then gestures to the pool table. “Can we
fucking play now without talking about love and chicks?”

 I nod my head.

 “Thank God,” he mumbles.

“So how about that hockey game?” I add making him
laugh.

We are on our third game of
pool and can still hear the girls going at it up above us.

“How many times do you think they are going to make
that cake?” Tate asks looking over to the stairs that lead up to where Angel
and Missy are.

 I shrug. “Angel is a perfectionist. So, I imagine
she will do it as many times as it takes.” The wedding is tomorrow, so tonight
is her last chance to get it how she wants it.

“Come on,” I say laying my pool stick on the table.
“Let’s go spy on the cake.”

I hear Angel as I come to the top of the stairs.
“My mother and I had talked about opening up a bakery one day together,” I come
to a stop and slide my eyes over to Tate. That’s what he had been telling me
about on our way to play golf the other day.

 “I thought you two didn’t get along?” Missy asks.

“We had our mother-daughter disagreements. I was
closer to my father but I loved my mother. She taught me how to cook.” I can
hear the smile in her voice.

“What happened?” Missy asks quietly. I don’t think
she knows the full extent of what happened between Angel and her mother. She
just knows that both Angel’s parents are dead.

 “Well, after my dad died things changed. I thought
my mother didn’t want anything to do with me. So I packed up and left home—our
plans forgotten.”

 “Why don’t you open one up yourself?”

 “It’s too late for that,” she answers quickly. Too
quickly if you ask me.

 “How so? Is that no longer a dream of yours?” I
hear Missy ask.

Angel sighs. “I would like nothing more than to
continue on with a dream that I once shared with my mother but that’s just not
possible now.”

“Why not?”

 I hear a noise of something hit the floor and then
Angel hisses, “Shit.”

 “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be getting into your
personal life,” Missy apologizes quickly.

 “No. You’re fine.” I hear her pick up whatever
fell onto the floor before she speaks again. “Things change and you realize
some things are more important than silly dreams you once had.”

“I guess I’m confused.”

“Running a bakery is hard work. You work crazy long
hours. You open early and close late. You work weekends and holidays. It would
have taken over my life and my mother’s. For me to do it now, alone, it would
consume my life. Slade is more important to me than some silly dream I had as a
kid.”

 I turn around and walk quietly down the stairs. I
sit down on the couch and look up to see Tate staring down at me.

 “What are you thinking?” he asks eyeing me.

 “I’m thinking that I don’t know much about my
fiancée,” I state, mad at myself.

 “Don’t be too hard on yourself.” He sits down
across from me.