Page 10 of Angels & Whiskey

“What?”

“Thirty-one. I just turned thirty-one before we came back.” I sighed.

“How did I not know about your birthday?”

“No one knew when my birthday was but Cochran.”

We stared at each other. “All right. Well, just give it a chance.”

I’d thought about Jackson’s proposition for a few hours while he begged me to go with him to meet Bobby. I was still laughing at the name of the company while I contemplated Jackson’s employment venture. Finally, I gave in. What could be the harm in getting paid to go on dates? After talking it over with Bobby, I finally became a “stud” at Saddles & Racks Escort Company. I was a fucking male escort!

How does a United States Army Captain become a male escort? Well, it’s simple really. Losing the love of my life in my arms changed me. The amount of whiskey I consumed should have gotten me kicked out of the army before my tour ended. I was lost, broken, and had a hole the size of Texas in my heart …

Texas was where Alyssa was from.

In the twenty-six years before I met and fell in love with her, I was a horny motherfucker. I’d fucked a lot of women before I’d signed up for the army, and then I’d fucked a hell of a lot of women in supply closets. But Alyssa had changed me. I never wanted to be with anyone else but her, and it took me over a year to finally be able to have sex with someone else. And I did it while getting paid. But I couldn’t just go in there with my dick out. I was nervous as fuck on my first date.

“What do I wear?”

“You sound like a girl.” Jackson laughed.

“You realize I haven’t been on a date in … well, since high school.” I shrugged.

Even though I had dated Alyssa, we’d never officially went out on a date. Sure, we’d hang out together on our days off, but we were never alone unless we were sneaking off to be together. I could never take her to dinner, hold her hand in public, or kiss her in front of people.

“It’s Valentine’s Day, so wear jeans and a nice shirt. Something simple, but dressy. It’s not rocket science, Cap.”

I exhaled. “I know, man. I’m just nervous to pull the trigger.”

“You only pull the trigger if you feel a connection. She’s not paying for sex.”

“Right.” I nodded. I didn’t know why Jackson was acting as if the date wouldn’t end in sex. All his dates ended that way. When you think of an escort, you think of sex.

I pulled a pair of dark denim blue jeans, a long-sleeved solid black T-shirt and a bluish-grey and white striped scarf out of my closet.

“Don’t you have something red?”

I stared at Jackson as if he’d lost his mind. “I should wear red because it’s Valentine’s Day?”

He grinned. “Yeah.”

“No, I don’t have anything red.” I walked into the bathroom to change since Jackson was obviously not leaving my bedroom. Red reminded me of blood—Alyssa’s blood.

After I’d changed, I stared at myself in the mirror. “You can do this. Cochran would want you to be happy.” People had been telling me that since she died. “Cochran would want you to be happy.” But how did they know? Sure she’d want me to be happy, but did that mean she’d want me to date someone else?

“Cap, you gotta go before you’re late. You don’t want to be late on your first day and have Bobby pissed at you,” Jackson called from the other side of the door.

I took a deep breath. “You can do this.”

I was nervous. Bobby said that Christine, my date for the evening, wanted the whole boyfriend experience. I was to pick her up with flowers, open doors for her, pay for the meal (even though I really wasn’t paying), drive her home and then kiss her goodnight.

Simple.

After knocking, I fidgeted with the scarf that was draped around my neck with one hand as I held the roses in the other. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was on my very first date—ever. “Get it together, man,” I whispered to myself as the door opened.

“Hi,” I greeted Christine with a smile, holding out the red roses. “Happy Valentine’s Day … sweetheart.” I threw in sweetheart for the whole boyfriend experience.

She reached out, taking them from me and smelled them before speaking. “Thank you, handsome.”