Be Careful What You Wish For Read online

  It was the transportation that was the sticking point in my life…every single time.

  But that was okay. I was getting that matter squared away and my car would be good as new and, I hoped, ready to run till I was done with school. As it was, it felt like I’d replaced every part on that stupid car. It should be just about new already.

  I wasn’t scheduled to work on Thursday. That was a plus. Otherwise, I would have had to find someone to cover my shift at the bar or I would have had to make arrangements to postpone seducing Kage. Fay (AKA Icy Blonde Bitch, Kage’s wife) texted me on Wednesday to make sure I was still on board. I was glad she had, because she might have decided that what she and her friends had done in their drunken frenzy was stupid and she was going to demand her money back.

  Nope. She wanted to make sure I hadn’t gotten cold feet.

  Oh, sure, I was nervous as hell, but I was committed. Wrong or not, this was an opportunity to ensure my future. Maybe it would seem like just a stupid car problem to other people, but it was everything to me. My entire life hung in the balance.

  I know what you’re thinking, so let’s go there. Sure, I could spend the rest of my school days (at least another year and a half) just hoofing it and using a bike. I could find a job closer to campus. But what about when I needed to see my family who lived almost one hundred miles away? What about when I graduated and found a job halfway across the country? What then? Yes, you can tell me other people manage to find a way to do it. But you don’t understand. I didn’t want to have to beg friends for the occasional ride, whether it was across town or to the Denver airport. After the life I’d led at home, I was fiercely independent, and I couldn’t see a way to be otherwise without a running vehicle.

  So, Thursday afternoon, I was scoping my closet and my dresser drawers, trying to figure out the perfect outfit. What would a guy who looked like Kage find attractive in a woman? Well, if his wife was any indication, I’d want to wear lots of makeup. I supposed my body was good enough—I wasn’t short but not super tall like Fay. I had decent-sized breasts and was thin enough everywhere else.

  I had no idea how to dress, though. Did Kage like girls who looked hot and slutty or did he prefer demure, chaste-looking girls who were sweet on the outside and rotten underneath it all? I didn’t want to overplay my hand.

  And then I realized it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if he found me attractive or not. All that mattered was that Fay had to believe I had tried to seduce her husband. If he found me repulsive or, at least, he wasn’t attracted to me because of my clothing or makeup choices, all the better. I didn’t need to take this assignment so seriously, but I was falling prey to it all and I felt awful for it. That was how I managed to power through it. I only had to convince Fay that I was trying to seduce her husband.

  And that’s why I chose to look hot. One of my roommates, Lindsey, got home from class and popped in my room to tell me about her exam. She was a senior and so she attended more classes than I did, but she seemed to want my advice on a lot of fronts. I was okay with that because Lindsey was a sweet girl. But she walked in my room, ready to plop on my bed, and saw all the clothes strewn over it. “Whacha doin’?”

  “Trying to figure out what to wear tonight.” I didn’t want to tell her what my awful plans were.

  “Oh. For what?” She smiled then, her pale face lit up by the twinkle in her green eyes.

  She might prove to be helpful, though, so I told her a half truth. “I’m going to the bar. I need to get laid.”

  Her eyes got wide and she laughed, tossing her head back and lying on the bed, her blonde mane splayed beneath her. “It’s about time. God. I thought you’d never get over Robb. What a dick.”

  I nodded, feeling the wry smile on my face. “You got that right.”

  “Ooh. Can I come with you? I wouldn’t mind a little fun myself.”

  That…that would wreck my plans. Fay was planning to be there too, and I also knew having a wing girl in this situation would spell bad news. Then you have the whole solidarity thing, all or nothing—either you and a friend take me and my girlfriend or we walk. Also, I knew Lindsey. The girl didn’t drink very often, so when she did, she felt it…and she was a sloppy drunk. Most times, I didn’t mind, but I couldn’t afford to babysit that night. I was on a mission. There was also one added potential drawback—if Kage found my friend attractive, he might completely overlook me, and Lindsey wasn’t the sort of girl to fuck a married guy.

  Of course, I wasn’t either.

  But she didn’t have the worries, nor the mission, that I did. She had no reason to push the envelope a little, especially since she had a part-time boyfriend. Like I’d told Fay in one of our texts, I didn’t plan to rape the guy or go overboard, throwing myself at him if he was obviously not attracted, but if there was even an inkling…I’d give it a shot. That was all I could do. And as long as Fay was satisfied that I’d done my best, that was all that mattered.

  Lindsey would screw things up beyond belief.

  “Sweetie, normally, I’d say yes. You know that, right? But…I want to be a little out of my element, out of my shell, and I’m going to be a little bolder than usual.”

  I saw her face drop. “Oh.”

  I sat next to her on the bed. “What if I promise to make it up to you? You know—you and me, wherever you want, next week sometime?”

  She put on as happy a face as she could muster. “Yeah, I guess that’ll be all right.” She sat up again. “So, can I help you with your outfit for tonight?”

  “I would love your help.”

  She looked again at all the clothes scattered on the bed. “Some of this is nice…” I could hear the doubt in her voice.

  “I want to look like a slut. Can you help me?”

  Her eyes grew wide, but then she smiled and started giggling. “With this stuff? I believe I can, girlfriend!”

  Chapter Four

  LATER THAT NIGHT, I was in a different bar (just a couple of blocks away from the one that employed me). I was wearing a black vinyl miniskirt and a snug red tank with black thigh high boots that matched the skirt. My makeup was a little heavier than usual (okay, a lot heavier), and I wore my hair down. I knew I looked good, but I hoped I didn’t look too skanky. I didn’t want to be a complete turnoff.

  No…it would be good if I did. Then I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about anything.

  Lindsey and Steph (our other roomie) had questioned my outfit and especially my makeup. I stood in front of my full-length mirror before I left our apartment, and it felt a little surreal. Yeah, that was me there—dark brown hair, pale green eyes accentuated with the false eyelashes I’d donned—but I looked different. I’d never thought I was a girl who could look hot, but with Lindsey’s help, I’d accomplished the impossible.

  I thought I looked irresistible, but only time would tell.

  An hour later, sometime after seven, I sat at the bar scoping out the place. It wasn’t the kind of bar I would ever choose to go to on my own. There were a lot of rough-looking guys there—bikers, body builders, jocks, probable gang members. It was a bar for men. In fact, the only other woman I’d seen was Fay, and she’d gone to great lengths to make sure she wasn’t visible.

  So, you’d think being the only woman in a bar, I’d be getting hitting on constantly, but that definitely wasn’t the case. I think it’s because I was an outsider. Women just didn’t come here, and the regulars figured I’d take the hint if I wasn’t encouraged. At least, that was the vibe I got.

  It felt like a man cave. It wasn’t a gay bar. It was men engaged in manly banter, drinking, pool, and darts. They were doing things with their bros, and hos shouldn’t have the gall to bother them, invading their territory when they weren’t welcome.

  Well, too bad. I was, no matter what that place felt like.

  I again spied Fay sitting in a booth across the bar. She was wearing a black wig and sunglasses. Yes, I’m completely serious. I couldn’t believe she wanted to watch while I tri
ed to tempt her husband. I was becoming more and more convinced that the woman was sick. From my vantage point, I could see her if I turned completely around, but the boys at the pool table I could see just by looking to my side.

  And, my God, they were all hot, but Kage was smokin’. He would have been the guy I’d wanted out of the three even if I hadn’t been on a mission to destroy his marriage in exchange for car repair. And Fay’s pictures hadn’t included all the tattoos on his arms. Holy hell. The guy was gorgeous and was flipping every switch I had without even knowing it.

  I sucked in another breath. No, I wasn’t trying to destroy his marriage. I couldn’t think that way. Instead, I was testing his faithfulness, and he could turn me down.

  I slammed the shot in front of me, hoping it would give me more courage, and then paid the bartender to have his cocktail waitress take a drink to the man in my sights. (Aha! A cocktail waitress. A comrade in arms!) I was sending over a shot for him, one of tequila. Fay had told me it was one of his favorites, so it would be a great way to break the ice. I was biting down, my jaw clenched tight, feeling way more nervous than I should, and I considered ordering another shot of my own. But I had to watch his response. And when she took the drink to him, a short conversation between them ensued, but he looked over at me and nodded, then slammed the shot. I smiled.

  But nothing happened. He smiled back and said thanks, but then went back to his pool game.

  Yeah…it might have been the man cave vibe, but I got the feeling Kage’s reaction was more than that, that if this guy was cheating, he had a special someone. He should have jumped on my invitation. Maybe I wasn’t his type.

  But I wasn’t ready to give up yet, and I knew Fay wouldn’t let me off the hook this early on anyway. She would demand eight hundred dollars’ worth of effort. So I asked the bartender to send Kage and his three buddies another round of the beers they were finishing up, and I paid him for that too.

  I should have asked Fay to pay for all expenses as well, because the drinks were adding up quickly. Maybe I’d try to negotiate that later. But my thought with blowing more money on multiple drinks was this: If the guy whose attention I was trying to get was blowing me off, maybe I’d have to get his friends’ attention instead. This time when the waitress took the beers to them and the guys started to look over, I was already on my way to their area in the bar. No way I was going to try to put a little extra sway in my step, because I’d likely fall over in those tall boots. It would have helped the image, but falling on my ass wouldn’t. It wasn’t worth the risk.

  When I arrived at my destination, I didn’t look the hot guy named Kage in the eyes…not yet. He’d had his chance, and now I had to play a little hard to get. So I looked over at the tallest guy and said, “You guys looked a little parched.”

  “We were, little lady. What did we do to deserve this attention?”

  I smirked, not ready to give up my secret yet. So I shrugged, trying to appear coy and teasing. “Let’s just say I hate drinking alone.” I got closer to the tall guy with long brown hair and said, “Mind if I watch you guys play? I mean…it seems like this is kind of a guys’ night, but…”

  “I’m cool with it.” He spoke with authority as though he were speaking for the other guys. But the smiling guy with long blonde hair and the guy with short spiky blonde hair didn’t seem to mind, either. In fact, I caught the spiky blonde guy checking me out when I looked over. But the guy I was here for…I was pretty sure his wife had it all wrong. He was avoiding me like I had Ebola and examining the table so he could set up his next shot.

  “I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Jessica.”

  The spiky blonde guy came around the pool table and offered his hand. “Jason.” I took it and he seemed reluctant to let it go. Maybe my plans had worked too well. “The big tall guy there is Mark, and the dude next to him we call Diesel. Mr. Quiet’s name is Kage.” I shook Mark’s hand—nice and warm—followed by Diesel, and then turned and Kage was finally looking at me. And that did it. I felt like I was going to melt. Jesus. His eyes were warm, almost caressing, and even though he still seemed reserved, I could tell he wasn’t as big a dick as he’d first acted. In fact, when he took my hand in his, he held mine firmly but not hard. It felt almost possessive, and I could tell my smile was waning as my eyes searched his. Aha. So he was interested. I felt then like I wouldn’t be able to catch my breath.

  But he was still going to play shy. Mark said, “We’re just gonna keep on playing. You can watch if you want.”

  Jason grinned, continuing to stand next to me. “I just hope you bring me a little luck.” I stood back a little and watched them play a while. I’d definitely wrecked whatever flow they’d had going. I was a fifth wheel. I didn’t feel unwelcome, though; in fact, I felt a little like a princess whose attention they were trying to steal, but they were having to adjust to the feel I brought to the group. I hadn’t counted on the group testosterone factor, but when Kage had blown me off, I’d hoped to use it to my advantage. I was now hoping I hadn’t overplayed my hand.

  As I stood watching them for the next few minutes, I was starting to feel like I was failing at my mission. By the same token, I didn’t want to just drape myself on hot guy Kage. I knew that if I came on too strong, I would blow it. The guy was married and was trying to stay faithful, and if he wasn’t, he’d hit on me before the night was over.

  So I came up with a plan. I needed to spend most of the time flirting with someone else, and I chose Jason. Jason was a cutie with this spiky blonde hair and striking blue eyes, but he wasn’t my type, especially when there was a rocker type like Kage around. Still…I decided to flirt with him as much as he flirted with me, and later I’d make my move. I needed Kage to see me through someone else’s eyes as desirable and attractive, and Jason managed to do that. I needed to keep it friendly and light, though, because I didn’t want Jason to start hitting on me in earnest.

  “How hard is it to get the ball in the pocket if you’ve been drinking a lot?”

  He chuckled. “Let’s just say my playing gets worse as the night goes on.”

  We kept up a light banter but I was looking for my opportunity to make a move on Kage. He hadn’t seemed interested as yet. I hoped Jason’s feelings wouldn’t be hurt, but surely all these guys knew. After all, whom had I bought the shot for first?

  Well, they were no dummies. After that game, Mark jabbed Diesel in the ribs and told him to help him “fetch another round” of beers. “You in too?” he asked me and I nodded. Jason then excused himself to “take a piss,” and that left me alone all of a sudden with Kage.

  He was setting up the table for the next game, and I couldn’t tell if he was trying to keep his distance from me or not. I moved close to him. I didn’t touch him, didn’t want to completely blow it, but—because I knew Fay was watching—I didn’t want to be accused of not trying hard enough. “So…do you really like pool? ‘Cause you act like you’d rather be anywhere but here.”

  He looked up at me and grinned. Oh, shit. That was a panty melter. I felt my heart start beating just a little faster, as though I’d been power walking. “Let’s just say it’s been a rough week.”

  I smiled back. “Well, it must be in the air, because I’ve have a shitty week too.”

  “It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t Jason and me against Mark and Diesel. They’re the better players and they’ve beaten us twice now. Guess it’s a good thing I just play for fun.”

  I looked down at his hands. He had tattoos past his wrists. God, was that sexy. I noticed that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. I couldn’t tell by glancing if he ever did. I panicked momentarily, wondering if I had the right guy, but I knew I did. He was the same guy who had been in the picture. I had the right person. I was just questioning myself, and I knew that was probably normal, especially considering I was going against everything that felt right to me.

  I took a deep breath, trying to push those thoughts out of my head. His hand was on the triangle,
rolling the balls around. I asked, “So what else do you do for fun?”

  “You mean besides playing games I’m no good at?”

  I smiled at him again. His eyes were probing mine. What was he looking for? I couldn’t get my lips to move at first. “Yeah.”

  His lips curled up on one side. Yes, he was definitely assessing me, and I was starting to get the vibe that maybe Fay was right. I swallowed, and I would have bet anything at that moment I looked like prey. He probably was sleeping around on her. I’d have to make sure he used a condom, because God knew what nasty things his dick had touched.

  I was captivated by his charms, though, and I almost didn’t care that he was cheating on his wife, simply using me to get off, playing me for a fool. There was something magnetic about him, and I just didn’t give a shit. He swallowed and my eyes were drawn to his Adam’s apple. He was wearing a chain around his neck. Oh…I wanted to kiss him there, lick the line that chain made, but I wouldn’t want to stop and loop back up. No, I’d want to keep kissing lower and lower. But I realized I was staring and forced my eyes back to his. They were smoldering now, almost ablaze, and he said, “Well…when I’m not working, I have a little fun playing in a rock band.”

  No. He was teasing now, right? “Are you kidding?”

  He smiled again. “No. I was lying when I said it was just for fun. It’s not. I’d rather do that than anything else.”