Page 238 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

MELLY

“He said what?” Mallory asked. I wasn’t sure if she sounded more amused or appalled.

I covered my face with my hand, my elbow propped on the high-top table. “Do I have to say it again? Once was painful enough.”

“Yes, you do,” Bridget countered, stabbing a mozzarella stick into a dish of marinara sauce.

I knew Bridget through Mallory and at the weekly high school tutor sessions.

The two of them had been best friends since forever and kind of came as a package.

I liked Bridget. She wore glasses like I did and if it was possible, she was even nerdier than me.

She went to MIT and now taught Physics at the high school.

I was smart, but not like that. If there was someone who needed to figure out how much tip to leave, it was her.

I liked her and didn’t mind that she now knew about my crazy day.

I opened my fingers and peeked at them. They stared and waited.

And waited.

Fred and I left Daniel on my front yard, not even waiting for him to get a horny Earl off his leg. I stalled inside until he left to retrieve my groceries from my car.

While getting ready to go out–which involved me pacing my bedroom with a glass of wine in my hand–I teetered between being sorry for myself and stunned by the man’s gall.

I wasted an hour fuming and never did change clothes. All I’d done was put my contacts in, then call a ride share to pick me up.

I groaned. “Fine. He wanted a paternity test for Earl.”

“The dog,” Mallory repeated, just to make sure she had it straight.

I nodded.

She pushed my wine closer and I picked it up and took a big sip. I didn’t remember how many glasses I had. Since her brother owned the bar, she had an in with the waitstaff and must have told them to keep the drinks coming. At least mine.

Usually, I only had one glass because I was a lightweight and I liked to keep my wits about me. The buzz most people loved made me feel out of control. I already felt that way, but now, I was confused on top of it.

“Should I be mad at him or–”

“No or,” Bridget corrected. “You should be mad. He’s so tall I have to wonder if the air is thinner up there by his brain.”

“I have to tip my head back to meet those dark eyes,” I admitted. “I feel so small beside him.”

Bridget smiled in a sappy way of someone ridiculously in love. “I totally understand that. There’s something… safe.”

Safe. Crazily, I agreed, even though both times Daniel had been confrontational and imposing. Bridget was in a relationship with Maverick James. He was as big as Daniel, and they could be two marauding Vikings if Maverick grew a beard.

Mallory’s gaze shifted over my shoulder and she waved someone over.

I turned to look but got a little dizzy.

“What’s up?” It was her brother, Arlo. He was several years older so I never knew him growing up, but I’d met him the other times we’d been here for ladies’ night. He held a small stack of dirty plates that he must have just collected from a table.

“You know Daniel Pearson?” Mallory asked her brother.

“Which one? Younger or older?”

“Older.”

“Sure.”

Mallory pushed for more detail. “Asshole? Idiot? Manwhore?”

His eyes widened, then glanced between the three of us, first on Mallory. “You’re taken.” Then Bridget. “You’re taken.” Then me. “I’m guessing she’s asking for you.”

I could feel the flush creep over my cheeks so I didn’t need to say a word.

He shrugged. “Good guy. Never known him with a lady, but that doesn’t mean anything.” Arlo looked my way. “You like Pearson?”

Mallory pointed at me. “Why else would she be in a funk?”

My mouth dropped open because she blatantly shared my confused feelings. “Mal!”

Arlo eyed me, as if considering something. “I say go for it. He’s a good guy.”

“You sure he’s not an idiot?” Mallory questioned.

Arlo sighed, adjusted the dirty dishes in his hold. “He’s a guy. Aren’t we all idiots?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, just left.

“So maybe he really isn’t an idiot,” she said. “Maybe he’s normal.”

I took another sip of wine. “Is Theo an idiot?”

“He bought me a house,” she countered, tipping her chin down and giving me the look women share that screamed can you believe it?

“Which makes him the biggest of all the idiots. If there was a club, he’d be the president.

They must have special hats or something.

With fur and horns.” She stuck her hands by her head and poked fingers in the air to replicate the horns.

That had me giggling, thinking of Daniel with a huge Viking-type hat on his head. He’d be eight feet tall.

“Mav didn’t buy me a house, but you’ve seen him.

” Bridget waggled her eyebrows behind her glasses.

Both of them were so confident in their men.

In their love. “He wears a pink Steaming Hotties t-shirt because he likes the feel of the cotton.” She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially.

“I like the way it’s two sizes too small. ”

Last summer, Maverick James came to Hunter Valley to build the James Inn–yes, it was named after his family–and met Bridget, who had worked as an assistant for the local construction team.

They hit it off and were living together now.

And clearly in love. And Maverick James was big.

Viking big. Like Daniel. But Daniel wasn’t a city slicker.

I doubted he even owned a suit. He was more rugged. More outdoorsy. More… MORE.

“What we’ve learned is Daniel Pearson, the elder, is a good guy. Arlo approved, and a typical male. Which means we need to put them in their place. Did you tell him off?” Mallory asked.

I shook my head, which maybe wasn’t a good idea. The room swirled a little. “I went inside and slammed the front door behind me. I left him standing in the front yard with a dog going at it with his leg, because… awkward.”

“You should tell him off,” Mallory said and Bridget nodded in agreement. “You’ll feel better. You should also sleep with him. That will definitely make you feel a lot better.”

Whatever music was playing through the bar’s hidden speakers switched to a country song that was well liked because people around us started to sing along.

I shook my head and spoke up. “No way. I couldn’t do that.

Either of those things. That’s… not me. Besides, Earl proving he’s a horndog shut down every reason he stopped by.

I didn’t even have to say a thing to point out how wrong he was.

” I raised my arms as if I was praising God.

“A confrontation is one thing, but what am I supposed to do, show up on his doorstep and point out that he was wrong about the physical abilities of different sized dogs copulating? It’s not like it’s a topic for the high school debate team and not something you jump a guy after saying.

I mean, do I yell at him and then tell him to fuck me? ”

They laughed as I caught my breath. Arguing with them was riling me up. And I couldn’t believe I dropped the f-bomb.

Mallory played with her stirrer straw in her gin and tonic. “I can’t believe he said the size difference wouldn’t work, although I know nothing about the dog version of the birds and bees. I mean, he’s the last person who should be questioning that.”

I agreed, but if I did so aloud, I was afraid I’d tell her I wanted to test it out with him. Which I kinda did.

“Oh, I can tell you that the size thing is not an issue,” Bridget commented. Mallory raised her hand and they high fived.

“See? No size issue. The guy’s a normal idiot who has the hots for you. Maybe he’s like the boy in elementary school who tugs on a girl’s braids and pisses her off because he likes her.”

“That never made sense to me,” Bridget replied.

“Me neither, but maybe this was Daniel pulling your braid.” She took a sip of her drink, then continued. “There’s nothing wrong with a fling, Melly. Or more than a fling.”

“I have to pee.” I stood, held onto the table until the room stopped spinning a little.

They had men who loved them and gave them lots of sex.

I felt a little more alone than before I walked in.

And I didn’t have any resolution on what to do about Daniel Pearson.

Which meant I wouldn’t do anything. I never did anything.

Because a fling? That’s what my mother wanted me to have with Creepy Carl when I turned eighteen.

If I had a fling now and the town knew about it, it would be the start of the slippery slope to being Valerie Price’s daughter. “How much wine have I had?”

“Not too much. You still remember his name,” Mallory reminded. “And his dick.”

“Daniel,” I said, walking toward the bathrooms. “Daniel and his dick.”

There was a line for the ladies’ room. As I waited, I decided I should tell him off. Maybe it was liquid courage or maybe… no, it was the wine. I pulled my cell out and found his number. The one he’d entered earlier instead of Danny’s.

It rang, then his gruff voice said, “Melly.”

And my panties literally melted.

“Earl proved you wrong,” I told him instead of saying hello. “Big and small works.”

I went there.

There was silence and I pulled the phone away from my head to see if he’d hung up. “Yes, it did.”

“Then is your issue a human thing? You’re big. I’m small. You don’t think you could get your dick inside me?”

The ladies in front and behind me in line looked my way with intrigued looks. I winced and whispered sorry to them. They didn’t seem all that bothered.

“Um, what did you say?” It was possible I stumped him, but I had a feeling he wasn’t expecting me to say the word dick. It kinda surprised me, too.

“You heard me,” I snapped.

“I know I can get my dick in you, Melly. It’ll be a real snug fit, but that’s what will make it so good.”

I got hot all over and I fanned myself with my free hand.

“But you don’t want to,” I countered. “Put your dick in me, I mean.”

The woman in line behind me patted me on the shoulder and said, “You’re beautiful, sweetie. If the guy on the phone doesn’t want to dick you down, he’s not worth it.”

He heard. “Melly, where the hell are you?”

Maybe the bathroom line wasn’t the best place for this conversation, so I ditched my spot and moved further down the hall. It was darker and quieter the further from the main bar area. There was an emergency exit and a closed door which probably went to an office or a storage room.

“I’m at Kincaids,” I told him. “And you didn’t answer my question.”

“How much have you had to drink?”

“Not sure. It’s a never-ending cup of wine. An all-you-can-drink glass.”

“Who’s there with you?”

I thought I heard a door slam. Was that a car engine?

“There are men all around this place who could get their dick in me without doing geometry first, Daniel Pearson,” I told him instead of answering his question.

“Melly,” he growled. “Are you there with a man? Is he taking advantage?”

I shook my head, but he couldn’t see it. “No. I’m here with Mallory and Bridget and the only dick I want to talk about is yours.”

“That’s fucking right,” he breathed.

“Just because I’ve never had sex before doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing. I have vibrators bigger than what you’re packing. And I know it fits.”

Again, more silence. Then a growl. “Stay right there. I mean it. Right fucking there.”