OMG! I
am still so mad I could spit…okay so there is no way I’m doing something so
gross as spitting, so bad way to start out, but you get the picture – I’m as mad
as a Hatter.
Jesse,
that means you’re crazy, not upset.
Shut up, Ethan. No one asked you. It has been two weeks and I still have
trouble talking about it, but Shea insisted the Cedar Falls fans deserved to
know why there isn’t going to be a New Year’s Eve story. Since she’s right, as usual, but I can’t write
about it, I’m going to let her tell you what happened.
Let
her? You do know she’s the author,
right?
So what if she’s the author, Flynn. It’s my story.
Hey! It happened to all of us, you know.
Do you see me rolling my eyes at you,
Danton? I’m the one that stood up to
that jerk.
You’re
also the reason we can’t go to the New Year’s Eve Party.
Seriously Ethan, don’t you have somewhere
else to be?
Are
you kidding? Who else will make sure
Shea hears the truth and not your distorted version?
Distorted!
I would never. You know
what? Never mind. You can all stay but keep quiet so Shea can
get this written and posted to the Cedar Falls fans. Again, I apologize to all those looking
forward to the New Year’s Eve story but I swear it wasn’t my fault.
Shea, go ahead and tell them.
NAUGHTY OR NICE
“You know we aren’t meeting Ryder for another
three hours, right?” Danton asked.
Jesse rolled his eyes. “Of course, I know. Why do you think we came now?” He didn’t bother to wait for Danton to answer
as the always positive Danton really didn’t have a mischievous bone in his
body. It was one of the reasons Jesse
enjoyed having him around. “If we waited until it was time to meet with Ryder, we wouldn’t have time to gamble.”
“Wait.” Danton stopped walking mere steps
from the front door of Cedar Falls' casino, Utopia. “I thought we were here to help Ryder come up
with ideas for the New Year’s Eve Party.”
Ethan sighed heavily. “Come on Danton, think. Since when has Jesse volunteered for anything
without an ulterior motive?”
“Hey.”
Jesse stomped his favorite black platform boots with the gold buckles going
up the sides. “That’s not…” but as he
thought about it, Jesse had to admit Ethan had a point. “Okay, that was fair, but still not cool to
point out. You’re supposed to be my best
friend.”
Ethan shrugged. “You know I call them like I see them.”
Too true.
Ethan wasn’t one to let Jesse’s actions slide without some sort of
sarcastic comment. Not that Jesse was
any different but that didn’t mean he had to like it when it was directed at
him. “Come on.” Jesse waved them
forward. “It’s time to have some fun.”
“But I didn’t tell Angelo I was going to
gamble,” Kit whined. “He’s not going to
be happy when he finds out.”
Jesse gave Kit an odd look. “Then don’t tell him and you won’t have a
problem.”
A look of horror crossed Kit’s face. “Not tell him? I can’t do that. What if he finds out I lied to him?”
Jesse loved all his friends but sometimes he
just didn’t get their obsessive need to be honest with their significant
others. “How is he going to find out? None of us are going to say anything. Stop worrying.”
“But I can’t lie,” Kit insisted. “Angelo would be disappointed in me.”
“It’s not a lie if it doesn’t come up. When he asks what you did today, just mention
helping Ryder and leave out the gambling.”
When Kit didn’t look convinced, Jesse said, “I don’t tell Parker
everything I do.”
“Yeah, but that’s because most of what you do
could get you arrested and then he’d be an accessory after the fact,” Ethan
quipped.
Jesse gave Ethan one of his best glares. “Hardy-har-har.”
“What?” Ethan tried to pull off innocent but
failed miserably. “It’s not like it
isn’t true.”
“You know what?” he said to Ethan. “If you keep being mean to me I’m not going to keep inviting you out with me.”
Ethan laughed out loud. “And who else are you going to get to not
only drive you but get into trouble with?”
Jesse turned to Flynn, Danton, and Kit, who
were studiously looking everywhere but at Jesse. “Fine,” Jesse grumbled. “Let’s just gamble.”
They made their way to the blackjack
tables. When he didn’t find his favorite
dealer, Yvonne, he chose a table with a dealer he didn’t know. Maybe this one would bring him some much
needed luck. But before he sat, he heard
one of his favorite security guards, Reed, say, “Look, I told you, I don’t
date.”
“But that was before me,” says a smaller man
with more confidence than anyone who was being shot down should have. The guy wore a suit in the middle of the day
and had a gleam in his eye that Jesse knew spelled trouble, since he had the same
look more often than not.
The difference, this guy also had crazy eyes,
something Jesse also knew because of dealing with Parker’s mama. It was obvious the guy wasn’t about to leave
Reed alone, not without someone intervening.
“I’m not interested, Alcott,” Reed said
before trying to walk away.
Too bad this Alcott guy wasn’t about to take
no for an answer. He grabbed onto Reed’s
arm, but when he wasn’t strong enough to stop Reed, Alcott chased after
him. “There is no need to play hard to
get. When you come live with me, I’ll
shower you with gifts.”
Like Jesse said – crazy.
“Come on, guys. We need to save Reed from his stalker over
there.” Trusting his friends to have his
back, Jesse made his way to where Reed was once more trying to get away from Alcott. “Hey, Reed.
Thank goodness I found you.”
The relief in Reed’s eyes was profound as he
looked Jesse’s way. “Jesse. What can I do for you?”
Alcott glared at Jesse as he sauntered up to
Reed and linked his arm through Reed’s.
“I need some help at the slots.”
“Excuse me,” Alcott put his hand on Jesse’s
arm, digging his nails in.
Jesse appreciated a good manicure, but
Alcott’s nails were sharp enough to draw blood, which meant he might tear a
hole in Jesse’s brand new long-sleeved shirt.
He’d gotten it just to wear this time of year and had spent a lot of
time figuring out what saying to put on it, finally deciding on, Dear Santa, I’ve
been good all year. Most of the
time. Once in a while. Never mind, I’ll buy my own stuff.
There was no way he was going to let his
shirt get ruined the first day he’d worn it.
“Unless you plan to pay for expedited shipping for a new shirt, get your
paws off me before I make you.”
Alcott was more crazy than Jesse had thought,
for instead of taking his hand off Jesse, he sneered and dug his fingers deeper
into his arm. “Try it and I’ll make sure
you’re never seen again. Now get lost.”
Alcott finally released Jesse’s arm but only
after pushing him. The thing was, Jesse
had a hard enough time walking without falling in flat shoes. Add in his platforms and someone shoving him,
he just had no chance to stay upright.
The next thing he knew Jesse was hugging the floor like the old friend
it tended to be.
“Hey, jackass. That was my friend you pushed,” Ethan yelled
as he got right up in Alcott’s face with Flynn at his back.
Danton and Kit knelt on the floor next to
Jesse. “You okay?” Danton asked.
“I’m on the floor, Danton. Of course, I’m not okay.” Sometimes he wanted to smack some sense into
his friends, but Jesse refrained or he’d end up with no friends.
“Come on.
We’ll help you up,” Kit said.
“Unless you want to end up like your friend,
I suggest you get out of my face,” Alcott said as Jesse was once more standing.
Even though he was happy his friends had his
back, Jesse wasn’t about to let anyone push him around and get away with
it. “You have two seconds to get out of
here before I go all ninja on your ass,” Jesse threatened.
Ethan gave him an odd look. “But you’re not a ninja.”
Jesse glared at Ethan for bringing that up. “Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Did you see me do that?” Jesse asked.
Ethan frowned at him. “See what?”
Jesse grinned. “Exactly.”
Ethan just rolled his eyes.
Alcott, on the other hand stepped right up to
Jesse with a haughty look that screamed Alcott thought he was so much better
than Jesse. “Reed is mine,” he
declared. “So get the fuck away from
him.”
Jesse cocked his head to the side and
considered what to do. It was clear
Alcott was unhinged. So did he push him
over the edge or try to reason with him.
“You really are bat shit crazy, aren’t you?” Jesse never was good at reasoning with
people. He found it generally pointless
as they didn’t listen anyway.
Maybe he should have tried.
The next thing he knew a fist was flying
toward his face. Having lots of
experience hitting the floor on a daily basis, Jesse didn’t even hesitate to
drop down onto his ass. Unfortunately,
Kit, who had been behind him, hadn’t realized what was happening and Alcott’s
fist headed right for him.
With Kit short and Jesse in his three-inch
heels, Alcott’s aim was too high to actually connect with Kit, but Alcott’s
forward momentum had him pushing right into Kit, knocking him into a set of
chairs that thankfully weren’t occupied, but when they toppled over, a dealer who had been walking by tripped, falling into Kit and they both took a dive onto
the floor.
As that was happening, Alcott, who hadn’t
been able to stop himself from continuing forward, knocked his fist into a
customer, punching him in the back of the head, causing him to slam into the
poker table he was at, chips and cards flying everywhere.
Maybe if it had stopped there, all would have
been fine, but Alcott was too incensed at not having hit his target and charged
after Jesse, who had just managed to get back on his feet. “Shit,” Jesse yelped when he saw an enraged
Alcott, fists raised, come after him once more.
Throwing up his hands to ward off the blow
had one of those hands connecting with Alcott’s chin. Alcott’s head snapped up as he stumbled
backward. His foot caught on one of the
overturned chairs sending him reeling to the side, arms flailing as he
unsuccessfully tried to keep from falling.
Before going down to the ground, one arm slammed into the face of another
dealer, who had been trying to help his coworker untangle himself from Kit and
the chairs.
Blood spurted from the man’s nose and a tooth
popped out of his mouth to land at his feet just as he went down in a mass of
limbs with Kit and the other dealer. But
it was when his head banged into the corner of one of the legs of a chair that
he finally lost consciousness.
“Jesse Grant,” Stone said from just behind
him. “Why am I not surprised you are in
the middle of this?”
Jesse whirled around to face an angry
Stone. “I didn’t do it,” he instantly said. Then he tried switching tactics, knowing
Stone would never believe he wasn’t responsible. “I can explain.”
But Stone held up a hand to stop him. “I don’t want to hear it.” And he hadn’t.
In the end Jesse, Ethan, Flynn, Kit, and
Danton had been banned from all of Utopia, including the restaurants and hotel, for 60 days. Not even knowing Alcott had
also been banned had helped Jesse deal with the harsh punishment of not being
allowed to attend the New Year’s Eve Party so he could wear his beautiful outfit
that he’d had specially made for the event.
The End (of the story that wasn’t my fault)
Do you see why I’m so upset? I had Lucian design new boots. I had to force Macon to help me draw my
costume. Then I had to beg and plead
with Cora, Helen, and Vera to sew it. For
weeks I’ve worked day and night getting others to make my outfit and I won’t
even get to wear it all because I tried to help a friend.
Lesson learned. No more helping others.
Don’t
you mean meddling?
You were right there next to me, Ethan so you
have no room to talk.
It
wasn’t like you gave us a choice. Hell,
you didn’t even tell us what we were about to get involved in or that Alcott
was a lunatic.
I was only trying to help a friend,
Flynn. Admit it, if I had told you, you
still would have been right there with me.
Flynn gave a put upon sigh. Fine, he
admitted. I would have had your back but
I’m not sure I wouldn’t have voted to let Reed deal with Alcott on his
own. He is a security guard, former
military, and more than capable of handling his own mess.
Maybe.
But I wasn’t about to admit that to Flynn or the others.
Anyway, that is my story. Look for new books in the Cedar Falls series
for more of my exploits coming soon.
They
aren’t just your exploits, Jesse.
(Sigh)
Whatever Ethan.
Happy New Year everyone. See you next year!
