Twisted Bliss Read online

  I couldn’t.

  I RUBBED MY eyes, shutting my book, and doing the same to my laptop. After working an endless amount of hours on a paper that was due in three days, I was finally finished. Now, I had nothing to do, and all I could think about was curling up into my nice, warm bed and going to sleep.

  The house was empty, of course, because it was a Friday night. Callie and Zoey begged me to go out with them, but I just wasn’t in the mood. After a lot of reassuring on my part that I was completely fine with them going without me, they finally left. I’m sure I would’ve been a downer anyway. I tried to not let the whole thing with Justin bother me, but it did.

  Nash had met up with Callie and Zoey that night at Shorty’s, and of course spotted Justin as soon as he arrived. I could see the question in his eyes as soon I brought his beer over. He would stand up for me in a heartbeat whenever I needed him to, but Justin and I were over so it didn’t matter. Nash knew I still held some hope of rekindling my relationship with Justin, even though he and I dated briefly in between. I still wondered what would have happened if Mariah hadn’t ended up pregnant. Would we still be dating, or would I have ended it and destroyed our friendship? I guess I couldn’t think about the what ifs.

  Justin had been a sloppy, drunken mess by the time my shift ended. I almost felt sorry enough to offer to take him home, knowing there was no way he would make it on his own. But all I had to do was see that girl practically humping him in front of everyone and I darted out the back entrance as fast as I could, not having to pass that lovely scene when I left.

  Of course, Callie and Zoey were waiting to grill me about Justin’s behavior as soon as I got home that night. I rehashed the whole miserable day, but we ended it on a good note with a perfect girls’ night of drinking a pitcher of margaritas, watching sappy love stories, and guy bashing. Callie kept her bashing limited to Justin, since her and Drew were still happily in love and together. I was jealous of their relationship, but I couldn’t be any happier for her. She deserves it because she’s such a good person.

  It had been over a week since that whole mess, and I still couldn’t get the picture of that girl sitting on his lap out of my mind. Apparently, I really liked to torture myself. Just as my feet hit the bottom step to head upstairs, Mia’s door swung open and I bit back a groan. I wasn’t even aware that she was home, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. Mia liked to make an entrance wherever she went, so she normally left later to go out to parties that were on the weekends. And she knew about every single one there was.

  “Della,” she called out as I tried to hurry up the stairs to avoid her. “Della, I know you heard me.”

  I stopped on the last step and turned around to glare at her. If I didn’t she would just follow me up to my room and then raid my closet, never returning anything she ever took from it.

  She placed one hand on her jutted out hip as she looked up at me and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Let me guess? Staying in again?”

  I shrugged my shoulders and she clicked her tongue, her eyes dropping down to her nails that were painted neon pink, perfectly matching her clingy dress that had cutouts on the sides and dipped low in the back. I knew, because it was mine, even though I couldn’t remember actually ever wearing it. I most definitely wouldn’t be caught in it now.

  “You’re so boring now, Della.”

  “Boring?” I repeated back to her. I could honestly say that was one word never used to describe me. Sure, I wasn’t a partier like I once had been. That was all I did during high school and my first two years at the community college.

  “Yes, boring. I mean, you didn’t even go out for your twenty-first. Who does that?” she asked in wonder, like it was a crime or something.

  “I don’t have to go out every day of the week to have fun.” I tugged at the hem of my shirt.

  “Right. And not to mention you’re so damn depressing lately. You’re not gonna try to off yourself again, are you?”

  “Mia.” I shook my head, but really, wasn’t very surprised that something like that came out of her mouth—it had no filter. “I’m just tired. Have fun, don’t do anything too crazy.” I don’t know why I wasted my breath because she would never take my advice, and I probably couldn’t imagine the crazy things she did when she went out every night.

  I headed back up the stairs but didn’t make it far before I heard Mia running up, her heels clicking against the wood. She grabbed my arm, continuing to pull me in the direction of my room. I gave her a confused look but followed anyway, collapsing onto my bed as soon as we entered my room, and Mia went in the direction of my closet.

  I heard her sliding hangers across the racks of clothes that were crammed into my closet, and she finally came out after about five minutes with an armful of an array of dresses, skirts, and tops. “Take whatever you want,” I said with a wave of my hand, “but could you at least return them this time?”

  “Oh, these aren’t for me.” She dropped the pile at the end of my bed and began holding clothes up in front of me. “These are for you. You’re going out with me tonight,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Don’t even try to argue, you’ll be wasting your breath.”

  “Really? Are you gonna drag me out of here if I refuse or something?”

  “If I need to.” She shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head at the pair of black leather pants that she was holding before throwing them back in the direction of my closet.

  “Mia, why would you want me to go out with you? You said it yourself; I’m boring. I’m sure I would just ruin your good time.” I hated that I actually sounded boring, and I hated that I was actually considering going out with her, even though I wasn’t actually going to tell her that. I really didn’t want to sit around here all alone, but I knew if I went with Callie and Zoey they would have been worried about me the whole time, and I didn’t want that. At least Mia didn’t seem to feel sorry for me.

  “Della, you’re not boring all the time. You just used to be a lot of fun. I was so jealous of you.”

  “Jealous?” My eyebrows shot up as she tossed a denim skirt at me, followed by a coral colored racer-back tank top. Well, that was one word I never expected to hear from Mia when it came to me. I never saw jealousy from her. Pity—yes, distaste—most definitely, but I never thought she was jealous of me and I had no idea why she would be.

  “Yes, jealous.” She leaned forward, never stopping as she undid the clip that was holding my hair. “You were always so carefree, doing whatever you wanted, no matter what Lillian thought or wanted you to do. You always had so much fun, while I had to be the one that behaved. Perfect grades, perfect outfits made up of boring khakis and collared shirts. Perfect everything. It was so much pressure, until finally, I just couldn’t handle it anymore.” She paused, running her fingers through my hair before grabbing my makeup bag off the nightstand and handing it to me. “I wanted to be more like you, well, more like you used to be.” She tugged on my arm, pulling me off of the bed and handing me the outfit she selected as she pushed me toward the hallway bathroom. “So, tonight, I’m gonna help you get a little bit of your old self back. I promise we won’t get too crazy.”

  I BLINKED MY eyes open, glancing at the clock to see that it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon. Judging by the pounding in my head, I had one hell of a hangover, which really wasn’t surprising since the past few nights I kept getting lost in a bottle.

  “What the fuck?” I jumped back, my body teetering on the edge of my bed as I stared back at the redhead that was glaring at me. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest that was still covered in a sequined tank top, and all of the memories from last night came rushing back in a slight haze.

  “Umm…what’s going on…?” I scratched at the scruff on my chin as I tried to recall her name. I at least remembered that I met her at the strip club Nate had dragged me to last night. He was convinced that booze combined with strippers was the perfect thing to take my mind off of my dad and Della, and really, it worked
. After consuming about half of a bottle of vodka, I couldn’t think straight, and that’s what I needed.

  Red glared back at me as I continued to sit there, wracking my brain for her name. She got up with a huff, sliding her body off of my bed, and then bent down to pick up a skirt that had landed on the floor sometime last night. As soon as she stood up, I noticed the tattoo on her hipbone, right above the see-through panties she was wearing. At least those were still in place, so I guess nothing too major happened.

  “Rose.” The tattoo of the tiny flower reminded me of her name, and she rolled her eyes. “Sorry, I had a little bit too much to drink last night.”

  “Really? I would’ve never guessed. I just figured since you were so into those lap dances you kept forking money over for that you would’ve at least been able to get it up.”

  I groaned as she slid on her skirt, bending over in front of me with her ass in the air, and I didn’t feel shit. I was a guy, something like that was supposed to get me excited, especially when she was so good at it. “Well, I can try to make it up to you.” I reached out, trying to grab at her hip, but she sidestepped my hand.

  “Oh no, I don’t need some guy with girl issues. I just needed a good lay, and it certainly seemed like you were going to give me one until we got back here.”

  I dropped my hand, running it through my hair as she gathered the rest of her stuff. How she managed to have that much shit with her was beyond me, because I barely remembered even bringing her back last night. I kind of liked it though; it reminded me of Della and the mess that she always brought with her whenever she was here. Rose grabbed her purse, and I sat up straighter. “Do you need a ride?”

  “Well, I really could’ve used a ride last night”—she pointed down to the front of my boxers—“but apparently it’s broken or something.”

  I snorted loudly and stood up, grabbing her hand to twist her back around. “I can guarantee you it’s not broken.” I pulled her body flush against mine, and she laughed loudly when her hand slipped in between our bodies and she gave a light squeeze.

  “Really? Listen, I’ll give you some advice.”

  I pursed my lips; not really believing any advice from a stripper would be that helpful. Sure, they could say they were doing it for the money, to pay for a college education, but a lot of them just liked doing it. They liked having guys pant all over them like dogs in heat.

  “Go find this Della that you couldn’t stop talking about last night. I bet you anything this little guy will come back to life if you find her.”

  “Gee, thanks.” The advice wasn’t half bad but it wasn’t like I needed to go out and find Della. I could probably guess where she was right now—with that douchebag, Nash.

  Yeah, I went to Shorty’s that night just to piss Della off, and probably to torture myself with seeing her again. I was mad as hell that she had shown up at the funeral as if nothing had ever happened between us, like she wasn’t with another guy. She wanted to be there for me, to make sure I was okay. Right.

  So, I found some random girl that was more than willing to hook up, climbing right on top of my lap before I even knew her name, and we put on a show. She was definitely more into it than I was, and it made me feel like an ass, since I couldn’t keep my eyes off Della once she showed up for her shift.

  The look on her face almost made me shove the girl on my lap right onto the floor. Almost. But a couple more shots courtesy of RJ quickly chased that idea out of my head. Once her roommates arrived, I could feel the death glares all three of them were shooting my way, not that I could blame them. Della seemed to avoid me for the most part, which was good because she would’ve just seen me staring at her like some stalker while that girl on my lap shoved her tongue down my throat.

  Then Nash showed up.

  I saw that douchebag’s hands resting on the bare skin at the small of her back, and it took everything in me not to go over there and rip his damn hands off so I could shove them up his ass.

  Brian really needed to change the work uniforms around there, at least for Della. I caught at least ten guys staring at her in those black shorts that were so tiny half of her ass was sticking out, the Shorty’s shirt revealing her tanned, flat stomach and that dangly belly button ring she always had in place. All I wanted to do was go over, put my hands on her hips, and drag her into the kitchen to have my way with her, like I always used to do after hours.

  Her shift ended and somehow she managed to leave without me seeing her. The girl whose name I didn’t remember begged me to come back to her place, but I brushed her off. Eventually she left, along with everyone else, until it was just Brian and me. He practically had to carry me out of there, and the ride home was silent for the most part—from what I could remember—and I somehow made it into my living room where I woke up on the floor the next morning.

  I really needed to move on with my life, but I just couldn’t seem to. I had thought there was still a chance with Della, but now that I knew there wasn’t, I needed to focus on something else.

  Because if I didn’t, my mind would just drift to my dad, and I didn’t need that to happen.

  “ARE YOU SURE you’re really ready to come back to work, Parker?” Ty squinted his eyes, leaning against the wall, as I finished changing into my uniform and before slamming my locker door shut.

  “Absolutely, this is exactly what I need to keep my mind off of things.”

  I had only taken a few days off of work. One, because I was so new to the department, I didn’t want to look like a pansy, and two, because I didn’t want to sit at home on my ass with nothing to do. Nothing to do meant letting my mind wander, and that was never good. I had already done plenty of damage to my liver recently. I don’t think it could handle much more. After Rose left, I swallowed a handful of Tylenol and downed a gallon of water, so I was ready for my shift tonight.

  “Whatever, just don’t get my ass shot because you decided to come back to work sooner than you should have.”

  I grunted in response as I opened the passenger door to our squad car and Ty slid in behind the steering wheel. Ty and I both knew that running into someone with a gun was always a possibility, but not a big one. We tended to get more calls about noise complaints, bar fights, and disorderly conduct, since we were in the same county as the college.

  Our night was pretty busy since it was Friday, the biggest party night of the week. It made me feel old when I had to go in there and bust people for underage drinking, or break up a fight, since I had been doing some of the same shit only a year or two ago. If some people could see me now, they probably wouldn’t believe it.

  “So, how’s everything going, dude?” Ty handed me a cup of coffee as he settled himself back behind the steering wheel.

  I shrugged my shoulder, listening as a call came in. I really didn’t know how to answer the question, and I didn’t want to. I don’t think you ever really got over the death of a parent, especially when you lost them so suddenly, so unexpectedly. I needed to be strong for Mom, even though it was hard as hell to go to my parents’ house and not have Dad be there, to know that he never would be again.

  “I’m all right.” I turned to look out the window as Ty pulled out of the parking lot, flicking the siren on as we headed toward campus where the call had come in from.

  “Well, if you need anything….” He trailed off, and I nodded my head in confirmation. Ty really was a good dude, and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner, being so new to the force. He was only about five years older than me, but had a wife and three kids at home. So, I tended to be able to have actual adult conversations with him, unlike Nate who was still stuck in the college mindset, looking to party every night. I wasn’t saying that was a bad thing, but Nate never wanted to grow up. He’d probably be partying and hitting up strip clubs well into his nineties.

  We pulled onto the street, and I recognized the house as one of the school’s fraternities. I think I had even been to a few parties here myself before, which amused Ty when
I told him. Like usual, handfuls of college kids took off in all different directions when they saw a police car show up.

  A shattering of glass sounded from just above us as we stepped onto the cement sidewalk, and I heard, “Oh, shit it’s the po-po,” just as we knocked on the front door. Yup, totally brought back some good memories. It was hell being the responsible one sometimes.

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE I let you talk me into this.” I inhaled deeply, holding the smoke in my mouth as long as possible before my throat started to tickle and I began coughing. I passed it to Mia, who took it like a pro, and grinned at the guy sitting beside her that was next in line.

  “Oh, please don’t start with all of that peer pressure shit. I didn’t force the joint down your throat, Della.” She giggled loudly when the same guy leaned over to whisper something in her ear, and she looked at me before shaking her head and murmuring something about “She wouldn’t be into that.”

  “I didn’t say that, Mia,” I grumbled, before taking a sip of the warm beer that I was handed when we first showed up. I was beyond cautious when Mia told me that we were just walking to the party, knowing that a row of fraternity houses sat just a block from our place. I had heard the stories about her, and assumed most of them were true, judging by the overwhelming welcoming she received when we first got there.

  We were currently holed up in someone’s bedroom with a group of about six other guys. I wasn’t much into drugs—in fact I hadn’t touched anything since I moved here—but the smoke I inhaled seemed to ease some of the tension in my body, and suddenly I didn’t care about the overstuffed couch I was sitting on and what exactly the horny owner of this room had done on it.

  I tucked one of the camel-colored, knee-high boots that I’d paired with my outfit underneath me, and smiled at the guy that was sitting on my right. He seemed nice enough, at least his tongue wasn’t hanging out like every other guy’s in here as they watched mine and Mia’s every move, waiting to see what was to come next.