Don’t Deny Me: Part Three Read online

  “Yeah. They told me he’d been invited.”

  Wendy’s mouth twisted. “And you went anyway?”

  “It was their anniversary party. It’s been years. I figured it would be okay.”

  “And? Was it?”

  “We … um …” Alice coughed. “We’re … um …”

  “Oh, my God,” Wendy said, sitting up in bed fast enough to wince and fall back on the pillows with a groan. “You and Mick?”

  “Hey, take it easy. You don’t want to set it off again. You need another pill?” Alice opened the bedside drawer to look for the medicine bottle, but Wendy waved her away.

  “I’ll be fine. It’s fading, thank God. But you and Mick. I, wow. Can’t believe it. That guy broke you, Alice. I mean, really broke you.” Wendy paused. “Sorry, but it’s the truth.”

  “I know. Believe me, I remember.”

  Wendy’s eyes widened a little. “How did this even happen? I mean at the party, sure, but then … ?”

  “He showed up at my house.”

  “Oh.” Wendy paused. “He likes to do that, huh? That’s only a little creepy.”

  Alice burst into laughter. “Stop!”

  “I’m just saying.” Wendy grinned.

  “He said he wanted me more than he’s ever wanted any woman. Ever.”

  Wendy didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Wow. That’s something, huh?”

  “It’s dick feelings,” Alice said flatly. “Dick feelings don’t count.”

  “How do you feel about it?”

  “I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. I went there for the weekend. He was there. The second I saw him, it was like I’d been in a dark room and someone came in and turned on all the lights.” Alice blinked rapidly, remembering. “Only it didn’t hurt my eyes. It just made me able to see everything that had been in shadows before.”

  “Oh, shit,” Wendy said softly.

  “Yeah. So. For now I’m just seeing what happens. I mean, people don’t change, do they?”

  “Sure they do. All the time.” Wendy patted Alice’s hand.

  “I don’t feel like I have.”

  Wendy made a face, gingerly, as though it hurt. “Has he? That might be the important question.”

  “He’s trying hard to act like he has.”

  “Well,” Wendy said. “There’s that.”

  Alice’s phone chirped from her pocket and she slid it out, anticipating a text from Mick. It was Bill. She swiped the screen to see the message, laughed a little, and typed out a quick reply. When she looked up, Wendy was staring.

  “Was that him?”

  “No, that was some other guy. Bill. I met him a few weeks ago. He keeps texting me,” Alice said.

  “Are you seeing him?”

  “I’ve seen him,” Alice said. “A couple of times. Not recently. Not since Mick. But I don’t have to stop talking to Bill just because Mick suddenly decided he made a huge mistake and wants me back,” Alice said.

  “You don’t have to explain that to me.” Wendy reached for the glass of water on the nightstand and sipped it. “Nothing wrong with keeping your options open.”

  “It’s not … I’m not …” Alice shut up. There was no point in lying to her sister, even if she’d been lying to herself. “I like Bill.”

  “That’s okay.”

  Alice shook her head. “No. I mean, yes, it’s okay to like him. He’s nice. He makes me laugh.”

  “But he’s no Mick.”

  “He also didn’t roll over my heart in an eighteen wheeler, then put it in reverse so he could back up and roll over it again,” Alice said darkly.

  Wendy smiled. “He could, though. Right?”

  “Anyone could. But Mick already did.” Alice frowned.

  “So … tell me again why you’re seeing Mick?”

  Alice sighed and fell back on the bed with a groan. “You know why.”

  Wendy started to giggle. “Mick has the magic peen!”

  Alice frowned, but there was no denying it. Mick McManus had a cock made of magic, and she couldn’t get enough of it. The question was, would that be enough?

  * * *

  Knock, knock.

  Who’s there?

  Ewan.

  Ewan who?

  Nobody. It’s just me.

  —Alice to Mick

  * * *

  “So, did it work?”

  Mick turned away from the coffeepot, then grinned when he saw Jay. Mick clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, man. I didn’t know you were coming to the office first. Yeah, yeah! It worked. I went to her house, did the whole grand gesture thing. It absolutely worked. Thanks.”

  Jay looked thoughtful, but shrugged. “Good.”

  “What?”

  “I’m just surprised, that’s all. I mean, it’s great, don’t get me wrong. I’m glad.” Jay grabbed a mug and held it out. “Can I get one of those?”

  Mick filled both mugs. “Why are you surprised? You’re the one who told me what to do.”

  “I did. I just didn’t think it would actually work.” Jay sipped and grimaced. “The coffee here is shit, you know that? You want to grab something on the way to the site?”

  Mick wasn’t going to argue with that. He dumped his mug and headed for his office, Jay following. “Yeah. Let me grab my stuff. You want to drive together?”

  “Sure. I’ve got some plans later back this direction. That’s why I stopped in here first. You want to go in my car?”

  “Nah, I got it.” Mick stopped to grab his keys, then took another minute to hop on his computer and check to see if Alice had answered his instant message. She’d been sending him goofy knock-knock jokes all morning. The punchline to this one made him laugh under his breath. He typed out a quick response, then waited for the little pencil icon to show up in the box to alert him that Alice was typing a reply. She wasn’t, so he shut down his computer and looked at Jay. “Ready?”

  Some onsites were simple fixes. Swoop in like a superhero, take care of the issues, clean up the mess. Some, like this one, were an insane pain in the ass. Because Mick worked on the tech side and Jay on the management side, it took both of them almost the entire day to get the situation in this branch back on track, and only then because Mick was able to call in a last-minute order for some new conference room equipment the branch manager insisted he’d requested a month before and needed for the client meeting next week.

  “You earned your bonus,” Jay told him when they’d finally put everything back on track for this branch’s reopening and were heading back to Mick’s office. “Hey, you want to grab a drink? I’ve got some time to kill before my date.”

  Mick, feeling accomplished about the day’s work, had been tapping the steering wheel to the beat of the song on the radio. Now he gave Jay a sideways look. “Date, huh?”

  “Yeah. New guy.”

  Mick wasn’t one to get in anyone’s business, but this startled him. “What happened with Paul? I thought you two were back together.”

  Jay was silent for a minute. Mick concentrated on driving. Jay would talk when he was ready.

  “Ten years is a long time to let someone treat you like shit, over and over,” Jay said finally. Stiffly. Like the words hurt coming out. “I got tired of being treated like shit.”

  “I don’t blame you, man.”

  Jay made a disgusted sound. “Anyway, let him do what he wants, with whoever he wants. I’m done.”

  They went to a sports bar near Mick’s office. Jay’s date was meeting him there and would give him a ride back to his car later. They settled into a booth, ordered some drinks and food. While Jay answered a message from his date, Mick checked his phone.

  Nothing from Alice.

  He sent her a message anyway, just a quick forward of a funny picture he’d gleaned from his newsfeed. It was in the spirit of the knock-knock jokes from earlier that day. She replied with a laughing emoticon, and before he had time to say more, Jay had put away his phone, and the drinks had arrived.

&n