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“I can’t,” she replies. Not even thirty seconds later, she’s standing near the door. “Do you mind?” She grabs a shirt of mine that was folded on top of my dresser, holding it up. I shake my head. Next thing you know, she’s going after a pair of my boxers, too. Her clothes from last night are still in the bathroom, a soggy wet mess. I’ll have to deal with them later.For now, they can wait until Kelsey elaborates on her statement. I’m sitting on the bed, watching the entire show as she shimmies and shakes to get dressed. My cock would be hard as a rock if it weren't so damn worn out. Three times we’ve had sex in less than twelve hours, and he’s tapping out. Between the shower sex, me taking her from behind in the middle of the night, and then this morning with her riding me, I’m not sure I’ll be much help when it comes to work today.
“And why can’t you?” I’ve been trying to work on her phone, but nothing is helping. I’m pretty sure a new phone is in her future.
“I’m still the new kid on the street. Calling out within the first month over my own stupidity wouldn’t be very smart.”
“Fine, then take my phone in case of an emergency. I’ll be at the marina anyways and won’t be out on the water.” It was worth a shot; I should have known she’d turn me down.
“Absolutely not. I have an office phone. My drive is literally five minutes up the road. I’ll take it in after work and go from there.” She got dressed entirely too damn fast.
“Fine, let me grab a pair of shorts, and I’ll walk you home.” This is one round I’ll win. She can roll her eyes all she wants; there’s no way my woman is walking anywhere alone when I’m with her.
“Fine. Hopefully, my parents are out and about today.” I don’t tell her it’s highly unlikely or that I like the fact she’s wearing my clothes home. When I’m the one standing there naked, it’s Kelsey’s eyes that glaze with pleasure. Fuck, being away from her today is going to be damn impossible.
13
KELSEY
“Hold on, Kar, I’m almost out of the building.” It’s been a few days since everything went down. True to my word, I went to the cell phone store after work. Surprise, surprise, apparently, my phone was toast, something to do with the internal doohickey. I really have no idea. All I know was my insurance covered it and I walked out of the building with a new phone. The first person I called was Talon. I put him on speakerphone while we talked, sent a text to the group chat with my parents, and gave them an update.
“No problem.” My online bestie lives three hours behind me in California. It makes for some tricky maneuvering on when we can catch up. While I was in classes at college, we’d stay up late and chit chat. Now that I have a big girl job, we’ve found our groove at a different time. My lunch break happens when she’s starting her day, so we chat while I’ll eat what I brought, and she’ll prepare her breakfast.
“Alright, I’m here and it’s quiet now.” Marine Research and Rescue has picnic tables set up near the water where we can enjoy the weather. And today, I could really use the reprieve. Last night, there was a call for a turtle to be picked up. She’s heavily pregnant, and her shell has a huge gash, an injury a boat propellor would cause. The boater left the poor thing, as if you can’t feel a leatherback turtle of this size. She’s easily two-three hundred pounds and three feet long. It was a kayaker who called Fish and Wildlife, and my boss put a crew together at the last minute to bring momma turtle here. Sadly, I wasn’t on the call list. I’d have liked to help, but damn this being a newbie business. Dad keeps telling me these things take time, but my patience is having no part of the sitting back and waiting game. I want to have my feet on the ground running, so to speak. That isn’t how things work around here, and through an online forum I’m in, I learned it is the same at other places. It really makes me second-guess my occupation. Maybe my professors were right, and this isn’t one of those long-term career paths. As it is right now, we’re state funded, I’m making a little over minimum wage, and I feel like I’m more help at Captain T’s than I am here.
“Is everything okay?” Karol asks. I call her Kar; others call her Karo. They all fit. I can hear the toaster going off in the background. Today must be avocado or peanut butter toast. She’s big on eating a healthy breakfast.
“Yes, no, maybe.” I’m going to keep this brief. Kar’s text earlier was about us having a chat about paint. While I paint oyster shells for trinket holders, she paints rocks. Painting is the hobby we have in common. It’s also how we met each other. A social media group brought us together. One thing led to another, she messaged me, and we’ve been talking ever since. We’ve been friends for years now. One day, I’ll either get out to California, or I’ll get her to Florida.
“Babe, tell me what’s going on. Paint can wait.” Gah, this is why I love her.
“Okay, personal life, chef’s freaking kiss. Talon is all that and more. The O’s are out of this world, and the way he treats me is out of a romance novel. I can see this being the long game. Marriage, kids, the whole shebang.” I take a sip of water, trying to calm down my nerves. The last thing I need is to let my emotions get the best of me and go back inside looking like a beet-red tomato. This little character trait passed down from my mom is awesome, I tell you.
“I’m so happy for you, Kels, really happy for you. I know you’ve had your eyes on Talon for a while, and I’m glad the grumpy old man got his shit together.” I swear she is my number-one cheerleader. “Now, tell me what has you so gloomy.”
“I’m having college degree remorse.” My sandwich sits on top of the picnic table, as well as my fruit and chips. All of it is currently mocking me, saying eat me. Except my stomach is revolting. When I was put with my mentor today to help with the injured turtle, she delegated me to another area, saying I was too green to help. Well, no shit, Sherlock. How does she expect me to gain more experience? Needless to say, today has sucked.
“Damn, babe, that sucks. I know you’re at work, so if you can’t talk right now, I totally get it.” I look around. There’s no one around, thankfully.
“I’m good for now, but if I quiet down really quickly, we’ll switch to paint. Which, by the way, that gold color is fabulous and will look so amazing outlined for my next batch.” This is what Kar and I do. Our conversations veer off path, and we talk about two different subjects at a time. And when we’re messaging, it’s ten times worse.
“Gotcha. I’m putting you on speakerphone while I eat.” Oh, how I wish I were at Talon’s house and able do the same. My parents are taking it exceptionally well that I’ve spent every night at his place, only coming home to change before work. Funny how neither wanted me to move out on my own, yet staying with Talon is completely okay.
“You’re good. Well, you know how I went through my internship and did quite literally the shittiest jobs possible? Well, I’m doing even worse here. My mentor hates me. I’m getting nowhere fast. I mean, it’s been a month. I’m sure I could do more besides clean and enter data.” God, I feel better saying that out loud. I’ve kept that in for the past few weeks. A job that I thought would give me purpose is making me realize I’d be better off volunteering instead of getting paid to do what I did in college. Plain and simple, this shit sucks.
“Okay, well, let’s pivot. Obviously, you’re struggling, and it's only hump day. You have two more days and I can tell from your voice this is tearing you apart.” Kar is my voice of reason. I should have called and talked to her about this a week ago. Staying quiet has done nothing good for me.
“Yeah, more than I care to admit.” My hand reaches for the container of watermelon, I pop the lid off, and grab a bite to eat.
“I can tell. So, quitting would look bad, but your mental health means more. What about going part-time, pick up extra hours at Captain T’s, and get off your butt and sell your oyster shell trinkets!” She’s been on me over this for a while. I’ve shipped her a couple, given them as gifts, and still, there’s a stack in my bedroom ready for their next owner.
“Fine, I’ll think about it. Because yes, you’re right. On everything,” I concede, taking a bite of watermelon.
“I’m not trying to be. I only want you to succeed, and, babe, you deserve more than the ulcer you’re giving yourself with worry.” Kar’s right, which means I’ve got a lot of thinking to do, and soon.
“You said what I needed to hear. Thank you. Now, enough about me. Tell me all the things. How’s life? Are you dating anyone? Are you painting today?” She goes through the list of items I brought up, and we spend the rest of my lunch break catching up. And at the end of the call, I’ve figured out what I’m going to do. All that’s left is to put pen to paper.
14
TALON
