Warning Track (6 page)

Feeling flushed with embarrassment, Lucy cleared her throat and said, “I’ll have a stack of pancakes with fresh strawberries.”

Connor leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, whispering, “You’re so damn cute.” He pulled away and looked up at the waitress, but didn’t give her the attention she wanted as she puffed her breasts out in her low-cut shirt. Lucy just wanted to tell her to move on because all the men at the table had zero interest. “Denver Omelet for me and a side of bacon.” He winked at Lucy and said, “I’ll share, don’t worry, love.”

“I know you will.”

Albert started gagging as he fanned himself with his menu. “Honestly, I don’t know why I come to these things; you all are so sickening to be around. Where is that hot mess of a friend of ours? I want to sit with her in her misery,” Albert said, referring to Molly, making Lucy instantly tense. Just the mere mention of Molly had her blood pressure rising.
 

The waitress finished up with the orders as Jane responded to Albert. “She wasn’t feeling up to it. Things are really not good with Luke.”
 

The fun and boisterous atmosphere died down and became uncomfortable and tense, especially since Connor was Luke’s brother. Instantly, Lucy felt Connor tense up at the mention of his brother. She knew it was a sore subject where he was concerned, so Lucy tried to avoid talking about it at all times. Whenever it was brought up, she tried to steer the conversation to something else, but before she could, Albert cut her off.
 

“What’s wrong with your brother anyway? Doesn’t he know that Molly is a fine piece of ass and she won’t wait around forever? Your brother needs to get his head out of his ass.”

“Albert,” Jane scolded.
 

“Excuse me.” Connor put his napkin on the table and took off toward the bathroom.
 

Albert looked around the table and raised his shoulders. “What? I’m right.”

Not wanting Connor to be alone, Lucy excused herself as well and went to find Connor. She looked around the giant and very-extravagant dining room and finally spotted his retreating back going toward a private seating area with giant blue velvet chairs and massive chandeliers suspended from the gold-covered ceilings.
 

As she walked toward him, she watched him run his hands through his hair in frustration.
 

“Connor, are you alright?” Lucy carefully asked.
 

He blew out a heavy breath as he looked up at her. “Yeah, I’m just frustrated with my brother and scared. I only hear from him when it’s convenient for him. I don’t know where he is, who he’s with, or when I’ll hear from him again. I just got him back and I’m so damn nervous that I’m going to lose him again that I don’t know what to do. The man is not right; he’s confused, hurting and fucked up in the head from the shit he went through while he was held captive. Who knows what’s going through his mind?”

Lucy sat next to Connor and put her arm around his waist, burying her head into his neck and kissing him lightly. She knew there were no words she could give Connor that would make him feel better, to make him worry less about his brother, so instead, she showed her love to Connor. She loved him as much as she could, to show him that he was not alone, that she would help him through this difficult time.
 

“Thank you, Lucy, for always being there for me.”

“Of course,” she said, as she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m so sorry things have been hard with Luke. I wish there…”

“Well, what a cute little picture this is.” Both Lucy and Connor looked up to see Austin with a barely-covered brunette in his arms, smirking at the both of them. “Crying again, Connor?”

“Fuck you.” Connor tensed as his eyes spat venom at Austin.
 

Austin looked at his “date” and fake shivered, making the plastic priss laugh a horrific hyena laugh that made Lucy’s lady lips curl with revulsion.
 

“I’m so scared.” At that moment, Lucy took in Austin’s appearance and knew right away he wasn’t coming in for brunch…he was leaving from a night of drinking. She needed to diffuse the situation between the two men in her life and quickly.
 

“Austin, just go home. You’re not helping the situation.”

“So the bitch really is crying. Ah, poor fella. If I was wearing shit catchers right now, I’d take them off and hand them to you to wipe those tears.” Austin fisted his hands and rubbed them in front of his eyes like he was crying like a baby. Never in Lucy’s life had she ever been so disgusted with the man.
 

Lucy stood and got in front of Connor as she spoke between her teeth, trying not to punch the arrogant ass in the face. “Leave, Austin.”

Austin looked around her and said, “You letting the little lady fight your fights now?”

Lucy felt Connor stand behind her and her warning bells started to go off. This was not good. She needed help. The testosterone seeping from both of the men in the room was overpowering.
 

Before she could move, Austin pushed Connor’s shoulder, who was standing right behind her. His arm knocked into her as well, barely sending her backwards, but just enough for Connor to notice and completely lose his shit.
 

Not even being able to register the catlike moves Connor had, he was around her in a flash with an arm cocked back, aimed directly for Austin’s head as Connor gripped his shirt. Austin just laughed as Connor stared him down.
 

“Fuck with me, but don’t fuck with Lucy.”

“I already fucked her. Her whore-like belly proves it.”

Lucy winced as she saw Connor’s fist connect with Austin’s jaw. The brunette hopped in place and screamed as blood poured from Austin’s mouth, while Connor shook out his hand. Security was instantly at their sides, escorting them away from the premises. Lucy hung her head as she looked at the two men in her life that had no chance at getting along and were most likely going to kill each other before the baby even arrived.
 

**Parker**

It was seasonably warm in San Diego as Parker soaked in the sun while lying on a lounge chair in his board shorts. He’d arrived at Jake and Lexi’s beach house late the night before, so he really hadn’t had a chance to enjoy the beach, but when he woke up this morning, he relished the sounds of the waves crashing into the shore and the sun beaming through the windows. Unfortunately, Jake and Lexi were both out of town for work, Jake being the starting quarterback for the San Diego Thunder and Lexi being the team’s new correspondent. They were both out at an away game in Seattle, leaving the beach house to Parker. They’d be back in less than a week, but Parker didn’t mind the alone time, he needed it actually. He needed the time away from his crazy life.
 

Popping open his beer, he thought about the simple days of college when he and Lexi used to hit ground balls to each other and the many house parties they attended to get drunk. Lexi was his best friend throughout college, still was, but it wasn’t until she met Jake that he and Parker became friends. Jake and Lexi’s relationship was a rocky road when they first started dating, which put Parker in an awkward situation, but once they figured their shit out, it was smooth sailing. Parker only wished he could spend his time in San Diego with his friends, instead of living in Atlanta.
 

Lazy rock and roll tunes ran through Parker’s iPod as he lifted a beer to his mouth. This was the life; once he’d saved a little bit more money, he was going to get a beach house, because he couldn’t imagine spending his time off any other way.
 

Parker was drifting in and out of sleep when a flood of cold water splashed across his chest, making him fly out of his chair like a madman. Ripping his iPod ear buds out of his ears and getting in a fight-ready position for any intruder, he looked around to find a bronzed female figure doing laps in Jake and Lexi’s pool.
 

What the hell?

Tentatively, Parker stepped toward the pool, but he couldn’t see who the intruder was because she had a swim cap on and her head was down in the water. To get a better look, he walked closer to the end of the pool and squatted down to see if he could make out who was doing laps. The minute the swimmer got to his end and lifted her head for some air, Parker slapped the water with his hand to get her attention.
 

“Jesus Christ!” the woman shouted as she stood up in the pool. The minute she made eye contact with Parker, her face relaxed and she laughed. He laughed along with her. “God, Parker, when did you get here?” Margo asked, while holding one of her hands to her chest.
 

Margo? Parker scanned her up and down and couldn’t believe his friend from college, the starting shortstop on the softball team, was standing in front of him looking like a completely different person than when he last saw her. Holy hell!
 

Trying to tamp down the all-of-a-sudden raging inferno that was running through his body, he answered, “Last night. Fuck, I thought you were an intruder.”

Margo cocked an eyebrow at him. “Really? You must have noticed it was a girl in the pool. I’m wearing a bikini for fuck’s sake.”

And motherfucker she was, Parker thought as he took Margo in. She had always been beautiful and in shape, thanks to her hard core work ethic during college when she was constantly training, but now, there was something different about her. Her eyes were brighter, her body curvier and her smile more enchanting. She had an air of confidence about her that drove straight to his chest. This wasn’t the same girl he went to college with; this wasn’t the girl he considered to be like a sister…this was a fine-ass woman staring directly at him, wearing nothing but a small white bikini. Damn!
 

“Stop staring, you perv,” Margo said while her hands sat on her waist.

“You’re the one who brought the attention to your body,” Parker said, as he directed his eyes away from her protruding chest and to her face.
 

Margo shook her head in disbelief at his candidness. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Atlanta with all your groupies?” she said in a joking tone, but with a hint of…jealousy?

“I needed a break since the season is over. Jake and Lexi said I could stay with them.”

“Huh.” Margo played with the water. “They didn’t mention anything to me.”

Well, this was awkward, Parker thought. If he were honest, he hadn’t spent much time with Margo since college; she’d distanced herself from him and he never really tried to maintain a friendship with her, since she was clearly cutting him out of her life. Occasionally they would send a message to each other on Facebook, but that was the extent of their relationship.
 

“Would you have wanted to know I was in town?”

Margo took off her swim cap and lifted herself out of the pool so they were now both sitting on the edge of the pool with their feet dangling in the water.
 

“I would have liked to know that you were in town. You’re my friend, Parker. It’s good to see you.”

“Just seems like we haven’t talked in a while, you know? Last time I remember actually having a conversation with you was at Jake and Lexi’s wedding and it wasn’t very long. You just seemed like you wanted nothing to do with me.”

Margo blew out a heavy breath as she moved her feet up and down, making a ripple in the once-still water. Parker couldn’t help but stare at her long bronze legs and wonder what they would feel like, how smooth they were. Was he really that lonely and horny that he was starting to pant over his friends? No. He was horny and yes, he was lonely, but damn, Margo had grown up from college and Parker couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

“It’s nothing against you,” was all she said.
 

Parker nudged her with his shoulder playfully and said, “You can talk to me, Mo”

“Mo?” Margo asked confused.
 

“Trying out a new nickname, you like it?” he said with a smile, trying to ease the unforeseen tension that had settled between them.
 

Margo shook her head and laughed, “That’s terrible…Kirbs.”

Throwing his head back and laughing, he took a second to gather himself. “So, you’ve been watching my games then?”

“Eh, if I come across one of your games on TV, I might stop for a second to watch your sorry ass strike out.”

“Oh, you will pay for that.”

In an instant, Parker wrapped his arm around Margo and pulled her into the pool, wetting her once cap-covered head completely. When they both came up from air, Parker smirked as Margo looked at him in shock.
 

“You dickhead!” fire and amusement laced her eyes as she started to walk toward Parker.

“What are you going to do about it?” Parker asked, as he slowly walked backward.
 

He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she looked with her long brown hair slicked back behind her ears, rivulets of water dripping off her smooth skin, and the way her white bikini framed every asset on her body, especially her mouth-watering breasts.
 

Shit, he needed to stop checking her out because he was getting semi hard and the last thing he needed was to scare off his friend with a half choad poking at her.