Hooked (A New Adult Romance) Read online

  I was fairly certain that this was indeed the case, and reassured myself that there was nothing to worry about.

  We transitioned back into our conversation, and wrapped it up twenty minutes later.

  I went home and got myself ready for a yoga class. I decided that after yoga, when I was to meet Dan for dinner, I would ask him about the young woman.

  But I never got the chance.

  Because when I turned my phone on after class I was alerted to a text from Dan. In it he said something came up at the office and that he wouldn’t be able to make it to dinner.

  I have to admit, this was a little disconcerting, what with the woman earlier today, and now this. I’ve had my fair share of asshole boyfriends, and considering the kind of shit my dad pulled on my mom, my trust in men was already tenuous.

  Nevertheless, I once again did my best to comfort myself by remembering that Dan was a busy man, and that when you’re a leading physician in your field and a popular professor, there are a lot of people vying for your time.

  “Drat,” I texted back, doing my best to sound playful and unbothered. “Hope everything is ok. Julie invited me over for a hot tub party earlier today. I declined because of our plans, but I’ll take her up on it after all. Love u, TTYL.”

  Unfortunately, a seed of doubt was now firmly planted in my head. I couldn’t help it. Even though I resisted, my instincts were on heightened alert, and no matter what I told myself, I remained suspicious of his whereabouts.

  Chapter 4

  Jake

  Disaster struck.

  And I mean that literally.

  My opponent in Chicago went by the name ‘Disaster’. The guy was a total loser. I should’ve been able to take him down with both hands tied behind my back. But I screwed up.

  As I approached the ring to sounds of raucous applause, I caught a glimpse of a woman who looked exactly like Ruby. ‘WTF?!’ I mumbled under my breath as I mounted the stairs to the platform. I glanced quickly over her way again, but there were too many people, cameras, security guards, and bright lights that prevented me from getting a clearer look.

  Trying to play it cool, I continued to go through the motions of getting ready for the fight. I met the ref and my opponent in the center of the ring. The ref said the usual things about clean fighting and protecting ourselves, then told us to touch gloves and move to our corners

  The bell went off.

  We sparred lightly, getting a feel for each other, and I danced around to the other side of the ring where I figured I could better examine the girl. I stepped back three solid paces to make sure I was out of Disaster’s striking range, then took a good hard look.

  ‘Oh, it isn’t Ruby, after all,’ I thought. ‘Dammit, Jake! Get it togeth—‘

  And that’s when the lights went out.

  In the brief millisecond it took to glance at the girl, Disaster nailed me with a hook kick that knocked me out cold.

  When I came to, the ref had already called the fight.

  Ricky and the ringside physician helped me out of the cage and down the long aisle back to the dressing room.

  The crowd viciously booed me. A lot of people lost a lot of money betting on me that night. That’s the first fight I’d lost in over four years.

  Talk about taking the walk of shame. Fuck, I thought that only happened to slutty college girls.

  Thankfully I’m back home. Now my only problem is that I’ve got to perform the walk of shame all week long to my classes and explain to everybody why a shiner covers half my face and my lip is cut and swollen.

  Fuck.

  If anyone were to find out what I do for a living, I’d be kicked out of school faster than a drug-dealing crack whore.

  Fucking A, there’s Dr. Hartley now. I still haven’t decided what I’m going to tell the faculty and staff.

  Ruby

  The worst night. Ever.

  That’s the only way I can describe it.

  I called Julie and asked if I could attend her hot tub party after Dan said he couldn’t make it to dinner.

  But when I went to look for my bathing suit I couldn’t find it. Then I remembered I left it at Dan’s the last time we hung out at his pool.

  Okay, no big deal. I’ll just quick run over and get it.

  So at around 9pm I headed to Dan’s place to retrieve my swimsuit before heading over to Julie’s.

  Big mistake.

  Because when I got there Dan’s car was in the driveway. And so was someone else’s. But the house was dark.

  I parked my car across the street and walked quietly up the driveway and around the side of the house. As I got nearer to his back yard I heard soft giggling and the sound of voices. I crept silently closer to where the voices were coming from. The wood fence that surrounded Dan’s yard and pool was too high to peer over, but the individual slats had occasional gaps, which allowed one to peek through every so often.

  Finally I came across an opening. I looked through the crack and was mortified at what I saw: Dan and the redhead from earlier in the day were getting it on in a lounger by the pool. Four candles gave the scene a romantic, soft glow. Dan was totally naked, his raging cock standing at attention, and the woman was in her panties, and if her nipples were any indication she was clearly aroused as well.

  I turned away, automatically covered my mouth with my hand, and slowly dropped to my knees.

  Tears came to my eyes. My lower lip started to tremble.

  I paused there for a minute in the grass, not thinking, not moving, with tears rolling down my cheeks.

  So this is what my life had come to.

  This is what Dan was up to. That dirty fucking bastard.

  I got up and began moving back towards my car. But then I stopped. I stopped long enough to give my situation some thought.

  Then I crept back to crack in the fence, pulled out my phone, and snapped a picture of Dan boning the redhead. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but I was sure it would come in handy at some point, even if it was just a reminder to save me from a moment of weakness in the future.

  I put the phone back in my pocket and went home to cry.

  A sleepless I spent going over the day’s events. Pain, anger and humiliation boiled through my veins.

  Now I’m at work.

  Everyone can tell something is wrong with me.

  What am I going to do now? The wedding is certainly off—how do I go about telling everybody? How do I confront Dan? What about all the excruciating time spent planning? The caterers? The wedding invitations? Everything’s fucked.

  People are flying in from all over the country, hell, from all over the world.

  Next week.

  Dan even has one friend flying in from London, another from Paris.

  That stupid son of a bitch! He just ruined everything.

  Chapter 5

  Jake

  The most miserable week of my life. Ever.

  But I’m on the upswing. Saturday night and I’m about to fuck a hottie I just picked up at the bar.

  Gotta get back to my roots, you know?

  After spending the past week trying to figure out how to get my head screwed back on, I decided what I really needed was a tight pussy to slam my dick into. I’m pretty drunk right now, but after being such a good boy for so long I’m realizing I’ve got to unwind once in a while.

  It’s not healthy to work, work, work.

  With Ruby and school and fighting, and all the attention and focus and energy it takes to get through the weeks, I decided tonight would be my night to let it all out. I’ve been working hard for months now, and my brain and body are telling me I need a break.

  So that’s what I’m doing.

  Taking a break.

  One eyeful of Ruby has fucked with my mind long enough, and I know part of my problem is lack of pussy.

  So I picked Amber up at Vinny’s club. A real looker she is, not as good as Ruby, but definitely sexy enough to get my dick off. Has a decent personality, too, n
ot a complete bimbo.

  “Want another drink,” I ask as we enter one of Vinny’s special rooms. Vinny’s club has private rooms for VIPs to conduct “confidential activities,” and by “confidential activities” I mean sex, business dealings and other matters of requiring secrecy and discretion. Each room has a fully stocked bar, complete with condoms.

  “No thanks,” Amber replies. She bites her lower lip and looks me squarely in the eye. She’s not stupid. She knows why I brought her up here.

  She walks slowly across the room towards me, lightly dragging her fingertips along the backrest of a black leather sofa.

  She gets up to my face and breathes, “So are we gonna…?” She touches my chest and begins to unbutton my shirt sensually.

  I bring my hands up to her slender shoulders and pull her in for a kiss. She kisses back, hard, and lifts the hem of my shirt up and drives her fingers down the top of my pants.

  I grab her little waist and ram her pelvis into mine, grinding into her. My hands run up the back of her shirt and unclip her bra. I pull her shirt and bra up over her head in one smooth motion, then hoist her by the ass and guide her legs around my hips.

  Her ass is nice. Not as nice Ruby’s, but nice.

  Her tits are o.k. Not as big as Ruby’s C-cups, but they’re good.

  I kiss and suckle her neck as she moans and writhes.

  But all I can think about is Ruby Cain.

  “Goddamnit!” I snarled, suddenly stopping and letting the girl back down onto her feet.

  “What? What’s the matter, Jake?”

  “I just…I just…I don’t know. I don’t know what my fucking problem is,” I muttered, looking down at my feet and shaking my head.

  “Is it me? Am I doing something wrong?” she asked with hurt and rejection in her voice.

  “No. No. I’m sorry.” I stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do.

  Finally I said, “I’m sorry, Amber. I don’t know what I’m thinking. You’ve got to leave. I can’t do this. We can’t do this.”

  “But Jake—“

  “Out! I’m serious. Get out. I’m sorry to have brought you here. You deserve better. I deserve better.”

  She put her clothes back on and quietly left the room without looking back.

  I sat down on the leather sofa and took a deep breath.

  “You’ve got to grow up, Jake,” I said out loud to myself. “You can’t just fucking use girls like that in some lame attempt to deal with your problems. When are you going to stop thinking with your dick? Grow the fuck up.”

  Ruby

  Devastation doesn’t even begin to describe how feel.

  Why me?

  Why now?

  Why did this ever have to happen? Is it my fault? Am I to blame?!

  Every bad memory that has ever happened to me comes raging back, every dark reminiscence comes bursting through the floodgates of my brain and drowns me in abject depression so that every corner of my world is dripping with darkness, hatred and hopelessness.

  Was I always fated to have this happen to me? Because of my mother’s disastrous history with men? Is this genetic? Why can some women have such great luck, and others can’t?

  Why can’t I just be loved like everyone else? What is it with men? Why do they all have to be such lying fucking dicks?

  All I want is a man who is genuine, honest and loves me—is that too much to ask?

  I take another gigantic swig of wine straight from the bottle and look out at the black, wretched rain outside.

  It’s midnight.

  I’m sitting near a kitchen window in my dreary, dark apartment.

  The only light that penetrates my miserable abyss is from a couple of street lamps and the occasional flash of lightening.

  I don’t know what to do. Should I really call off the wedding? There was so much planning to get it off the ground. So many people are going to be disappointed. So many are going to be let down.

  I have half a mind to go through with it—I mean, why not? Every other couple just lies and cheats and sleeps around? Are their any solid relationships out there? What’s the point of investing any more time in a man if he’s just going to fuck around anyway?

  The really fucked up thing is, with Dan, I really felt I had a winner. I figured that because he was nearly twice my age he would have gotten all his sleeping around out of his penis. Seriously, when do men stop thinking about their cocks? Is one vagina really that different than another? So different that you’re willing to throw away a relationship you’ve invested so much time in to nurture and develop?

  I’m a ranting, pouting wreck of a woman, I know. But how else is a girl who is a week away from her wedding supposed to feel?

  It’s too late, but I feel like calling my mom. And Julie.

  I take three more big mouthfuls of wine and finish the bottle.

  Ugh! That burned!

  Time to get calling. I don’t care how late it is.

  Chapter 6

  Jake

  “So Jake, man, what’s up? What’s this you wanting to talk? I hope it’s not about your feelings or anything girly like that. Go talk to your momma if you wanna talk about your feelings, that ain’t my department.”

  “Shit no, Zach,” I laughed, nudging my old training partner in the ribs as we entered a noisy bar and sat down. “You know, we just haven’t gone out in a while, that’s all. I just wanted to catch up a bit.”

  Zach and I grew up together, used to fight together, too. But when his girl had a baby he decided to quit fighting. Now he owns a successful auto shop that specializes in building custom muscle cars. He’s a real sharp cookie, sort of philosophical in his approach to thinking; I like to pick his brain sometimes when I’m struggling with things.

  “What’re you drinking, Zach? I’m buying.”

  After giving the bartender our order Zach turned to me and asked, “So who’s the girl?”

  “Excuse me?” I turned to look at him.

  “’Oh, excuse me?’” Zach teased. “What? You learn that in medical school? They teachin’ you how to say, ‘excuse me,’ and ‘please’ and ‘thank you’? Since when does Jake Bishop start saying, ‘excuse me’? It’s like I don’t even know you anymore, man!”

  We both laughed. Zach was right: med school was changing me some.

  “Seriously, though,” he continued, “When you asked me to join you for a drink and talk I knew something was up. Now Jake Bishop don’t ‘talk’; and he sure as hell don’t talk about his feelings. Since you’re not crying your eyes out, I know your brother is alive and well and hasn’t been shot to shit somewhere in the Middle East. So, naturally, you’re hitting me up to talk about a girl. Am I right, or am I right?”

  I smiled, shook my head, and rolled my eyes.

  “Okay. So out with it. We don’t got all night.”

  I took a deep breath in and sighed. “Well, okay, so a couple weeks ago I happened to catch a glimpse of a girl I haven’t seen in a long time. Like, since high school.”

  “This girl have a name?”

  “Yeah. Ruby. Ruby Cain. Anyway, I had a gigantic crush on this girl back then, and let her know it, but she rejected me big time. You know, I’m not one for backing down, so I pressed back. Anyway, to make a long story short she basically said she was too good for me and that I wouldn’t go anywhere in life.”

  “Oooweee! Ouch! A feisty one! I like them kind! Go on.”

  “Yeah, well, anyway, so like I said, I happened to catch sight of her the other night. The bitch still looks hot as ever. And since then I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind. I can’t concentrate on shit! Not on school, not on fighting. Fuck, dude, I lost a fight last weekend because I thought I saw her near ringside! I took one second to look at her, just one, and my opponent knocked me out cold! Goddamn, I lost nearly $25,000 because I thought I saw a girl! And what’s worse is—“

  “Whoa whoa whoa whoa!” Zach interrupted, holding up his hands. “You lost a fight?! Over a girl?! Uh,
are you outta your fucking mind?!”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  He sat up, took a deep breath, and ran a big hand over his shaved head. He then sat there for a second, looking like a lost child, before leaning back into the bar with a forearm.

  “So have you talked to this girl? What’s her story? Where does she live? Where does she work?”

  “I told you: I just happened to see her hailing a cab the other night. She was across the street from me. She appeared to be in a hurry. I hadn’t seen her in probably eight years, only saw her for that fleeting moment a couple of weeks ago, and haven’t seen her since.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he deadpanned.

  “Nope.”

  “Man, you gotta problem,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Tell me about it. The image that’s seared into my brain is fucking up school, fucking up fighting, fucking up everything.”

  “Are you absolutely, one-hundred percent certain it was her?”

  “Yup. Not a doubt in my mind.”

  “Huh. So what’re you gonna do?” He shifted in his seat.

  “I don’t know. I was hoping you could shed some light on the situation.”

  “I think you need to seek professional help. You gotta problem. That ain’t normal, man. It’s like you’re in love with this girl or something.”

  We both took a drink and leaned forward, our gazes absentmindedly trained on the liquor-filled shelves behind the bar.

  “And you haven’t seen her since?”

  “No, I told you, haven’t seen her since,” I replied, shaking my head.

  Zach sat there in silence for a solid thirty seconds.

  Then suddenly he turned towards me, grabbed me firmly by both shoulders, looked me directly in the eyes and said, “Jake, we go a long way back. Now I know you. I know you real well. You one of the toughest motherfuckers I ever met, in both mind and body. But you got to pull yourself together, man! And now! Like, STAT, you know, like how you doctors use STAT!