Playing For Keeps (14 page)

She inwardly groaned. Tonight was
about relaxing after a long day of review. She wasn’t here to moon
over Jason Bradford. Tonight she was here to have a few drinks,
play a game of pool, and relax.

“Ah, Haley, maybe we should go
somewhere else. How about we rent a movie and get some pizza and
head to my place?” Mary asked, sounding nervous.

Haley frowned at her. “We’ve been
waiting an hour for the pool table and we’re up next. Besides I’m
not done with my beer. What’s wrong?”

Mary looked down at her drink and
nibbled her lip for a moment. She looked close to tears.

“Mary?” Haley said softly.

Mary shook her head and sobbed
lightly, but didn’t look up.

Loud laughter drew Haley’s attention
to the door. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

“That son of a bitch,” she
snapped.

“Haley, please don’t make a big deal
out of this. Let’s just go-“

Haley was already on her feet and
headed towards the small group near the bar. She pushed her way
through the group until she was face to face with Mary’s ex-fiancé
and the voluptuous blonde snuggling up to him. She snorted. It
wasn’t even the same one he left Mary for. He was pathetic. She
really wished she had spoken up years ago about how much of a loser
he was.

“What the hell do you want?” Ted
practically sneered.

She shrugged. “Nothing much. Just
wondering if you’re going to grow some balls and help Mary. You
remember Mary, don’t you? The woman you dated for four years,
cheated on constantly, asked to marry, and then knocked up all
before you dumped her for a stripper? Well, I was just wondering if
you were planning on manning up anytime soon and helping Mary with
the medical bills for this pregnancy. Just thinking it might be
nice if she could afford to keep your kid in diapers and formula.
I’m kind of funny like that.”

The woman under his arm looked
startled and pushed away from him with open disgust.

“You got a woman pregnant and left
her? What an asshole!” she said before stalking off and giving him
the finger. His buddies laughed at him. Ted glared at
her.

Ted groaned. “You stupid bitch! I am
so sick of you fucking up my life! Mary’s accepted our break up
when the hell are you going to? I don’t want anything to do with
that flat chested ugly bitch or her brat so fuck off and leave me
alone! And if you're so concerned about the baby's shitty diapers
then you buy them for her, bitch!”

“Listen you-“

“Haley, please!” Mary, suddenly by her
side, pleaded as she tried to pull Haley away. “Let’s just
go!”

“There you are! You need to tell her
to mind her own fucking business!” Ted said, pushing Mary in the
shoulder hard to make his point.

“Oh, no you didn’t, you son of a
bitch!” Haley said just before she released her fists of furry on
the bastard.

Chapter 13

“Would you two cut the shit? We’re
here to have a guy’s night out not a pissing contest,” Brad said to
the two men glaring at each other. He looked heavenward and sighed,
“This is fucking ridiculous.”

“He’s the one being an asshole,” Mitch
said, shoving Jason.

Jason shoved him back, harder, sending
his friend into a parked pickup truck. He pointed a finger at
Mitch. “Stay the fuck away from her.”

“Oh, fuck off you, you sanctimonious
asshole. You don’t want her, but you don’t want anyone else to have
her. She’s not your property!”

Jason felt his jaw clench
tighter.

“What are you going to do when she
starts dating some other guy? Huh, tough guy?” Mitch pushed him.
“Someday soon this little friendship of yours won’t be enough for
her and she’ll go to another guy and you won’t have her anymore.
Have you thought of that, yet?” Mitch snorted. “She’s a beautiful,
funny, sweet woman. A lot of guys would give their right nut for a
girl like her!”

Jason felt all the blood drain out of
his face. He stood there as the reality of Mitch’s words hit him
hard. One day it would be another man Haley would talk to, watch
games with, or just sit in absolute peaceful silence while they
worked or ate, and worst of all it would be another man holding
Haley in his arms at night.

“Fuck….,” he gasped.

“Oh great, you broke him! Are you
happy now?” Brad demanded. “Come on, buddy, we’ll get you fixed up
with a cold beer and a plate of hot wings. How does that sound?
Does that sound good?”

Numbly, Jason nodded.

Brad scowled at Mitch who looked
profoundly shocked by Jason’s reaction. No doubt the man probably
expected a good shoving match and a few outbursts. Jason going
suddenly quiet was absolutely frightening.

“I hope you’re happy!” Brad yelled at
Mitch. "You broke him!"

“I was just pissed….I didn’t know….I…”
He shrugged helplessly as he helped Brad steer a very numb Jason
into the bar. “Look, I’m sorry. I just thought you didn’t think I
was good enough for her. Shit. I didn’t realize that-“

His words were cut off when Brad shook
his head. Mitch looked at Jason and nodded. The man clearly wasn’t
ready to hear any of this. Jason wasn’t aware his friends were
talking. He couldn’t focus past the idea of another man touching
Haley.

His
Haley.

“Please stop!” a woman screamed as
they pushed a still frighteningly quiet Jason inside.

They spotted a familiar looking tall
woman being held back by two women who were trying to calm her down
while they looked nervously at a small group of men. Suddenly the
group parted.

All three men stood in shock as Haley
hit, well sort of slapped with her fists in a windmill type
fashion, a large man who looked more pissed with her assault than
actually hurt.

“You don’t ever touch her again!”
Haley yelled as she continued her weird ass assault.

“Shut up, bitch!” the man said,
shoving Haley away. She stumbled backwards and hit the floor,
hard.

Jason saw red as everything around him
blurred into a haze as he focused on the man that just put his
hands on Haley. Without a word he stalked over to the son of a
bitch and punched him in the face, sending him slamming back into
the bar.

The man bent over in agony, cupping
his nose. “You broke my nose, asshole!”

“If you ever lay another finger on her
I will kill you. Do you understand me?” he promised with barely
restrained fury.

The man tried to glare, and winced.
Finally he nodded.

“Good,” he said slowly, turning
around. “Whoa!” he gasped as his little grasshopper ran into him as
she attempted to renew her cute little attack.

“Haley!” he said, trying to snap her
out of it. She ignored him, trying to swing at the guy or whatever
the hell she was doing. With an exasperated sigh he threw her over
his shoulder and headed for the door.

“You’re lucky, Ted! Next time I will
kick. Your. Ass!” she yelled.

Jason gave her bottom a patronizing
pat. “I’m sure you have him quaking in his drawers, my little
grasshopper. No need to scare him.”

She grabbed the waist of his jeans to
help push herself up so that she could glare at the bastard. “Ass
whooping! Next time I’m not holding back!”

“Tell him to watch his back!” Mitch
suggested, laughing.

Jason nearly rolled his eyes when
Haley did just that. He released a weary breath. “Let’s get you
home before you have the man wetting himself.”

“You’re lucky, punk!” she yelled,
making him grin. She was so damn cute.

****************

Haley grunted and kicked the covers
off of them.

“Are you going to whoop the sheet’s
ass as well? Should I run to safety?” Jason asked, biting back a
huge smile that was threatening to take over.

“It’s hot!” she said in a cute little
whiny voice. “And stop making fun of me. I totally kicked ass
tonight,” she said with a sniff. “They might even ban me from the
bar after tonight.”

He blinked. “For what?”

She flopped on her back away from him.
“What do you mean for what? I started a brawl!”

“Really? When?”

“What do you mean when? You were
there. You saw me kicking some ass!”

“That thing you were doing with your
hands?” She nodded. “I thought you were having a seizure of some
kind.”

She gasped and gave him a
playful shove. “Jerk! I totally kicked his ass and I could
kick
your
ass.”

He looked at her for a moment before
he burst out laughing. The entire bed shook as he laughed, probably
harder than he’d ever laughed in his entire life. Tears streamed
down his face as he gripped his side as a cramp started.

“Hey! Stop laughing at me! I’m a major
threat damn it!” her serious tone had him laughing harder. Damn,
she was really killing him here. “Keep it up and I’m going to kick
your ass with my fists of fury!”

Somehow he managed to laugh harder. He
really didn’t think it was possible, but he did.

“That’s it!” Haley snapped. She sat up
and quickly straddled his hips and grabbed his arms. She tried to
pin his arms by his side of his head. His laughter became more
controlled as he quickly turned the tables on her and rolled over,
pinning her beneath him. He didn’t bother pinning down her hands.
Really, what was the point? He’d seen her in action after
all.

“Alright, my little grasshopper, kick
my ass. I’m ready,” he said, grinning. He made sure to keep his
hips raised. No point in torturing himself, especially since she
was only wearing a tiny camisole and pink cotton
panties.

She began pushing at his chest, trying
to shove him off. When that didn’t work she tried to kick him and
he thought she may have tried to give him a good old fashion Indian
burn on his arm.

It was just sad.

“Come on, my little grasshopper, I’m
ready any time you are. Show me some of that fury.”

Haley shoved and pulled harder, but
still he didn’t move.

“Seriously, I’m ready whenever you
are,” he said, smiling down at her.

She groaned loudly as she increased
her attempts. Still she couldn’t budge him.

He couldn’t stop himself from taunting
her. She was just so damn cute. “Aw, is my little grasshopper
getting tired? Where’s all that fury gone? Come on let’s see those
moves-“

She cut his words off with a kiss,
surprising the hell out of him. It was a quick gentle brush of her
lips over his, but it knocked him on his ass. Haley dropped her
head back on the pillow staring at him while she worried her bottom
lip nervously.

Jason hovered over her, panting for
breath that had nothing to do with laughter. That kiss….. That
innocent, sweet kiss hit him harder than every make out session
he’d ever had in his life.

“Jason?” Haley’s broken whisper
brought his attention back to her lips.

This was over. He was going to climb
out of bed, apologize to her, walk her back to her house and put
some distance between them. He was no good for her. He treated
woman like shit and had no clue how to treat someone as special as
Haley. She deserved a man who would make her his entire world. A
man who would take care of her, hold her and love her. And he was
not that man.

“Haley, I-“

His words broke off in a groan as
Haley’s mouth covered his again. She brushed her lips against his
enticingly. His entire body went rigid as he forced himself not to
respond. He couldn’t do this to her. As much as it would hurt both
of them he couldn’t give in to her. His body shook with the need to
kiss her back and lower his body onto hers, but somehow he found
the strength to fight it.

**************

He wasn’t kissing her back.

There, she had her answer. She just
had to go and kiss him to find out. She couldn’t just ask him like
a normal person. Now, she not only probably just wrecked everything
between them, but she was also horribly embarrassed. Peachy. Just
freakin’ peachy.

She felt the tears burn in her eyes.
He was not going to see her cry. She absolutely refused to let him
see how much this hurt her.

“Excuse me,” she mumbled softly,
breaking away and pushing at his chest. He didn’t fight her this
time. He moved off her. She was so close to breaking down. She
jumped off the bed and headed for the bedroom door. She didn’t care
about her clothes or anything else at the moment. She just needed
to get out of there.

“Haley!” Jason called after her.
“Let’s talk about this!”

The last thing she wanted to do was
talk about this. She ran out his door and across the yard to her
door. Barely able to see through the tears that were now flowing
freely down her face as she searched for her hidden key beneath the
front step and went into her house.

She locked the front door and ran to
her room to lock her window and pull her curtains shut, knowing
Jason would just come through the window for her and try to joke
his way out of this. She didn’t want to joke about this. This hurt!
Her heart was broken and she just lost the best friend she ever had
over her own stupidity.