Marie Harte - Raising the Bar

She turned off the TV, marveling at the incongruity of being part owner of a sex club and getting less action than her octogenarian neighbors. She admitted she was picky about her boyfriends, but it had been over two years since her relationship with Mike and Tim had ended, and a year since she and Lou had broken up, and she still hadn’t found anyone who tripped her switch. Well, not like Harper or Dylan. Someone attainable.

Those guys didn’t count. For a while she’d thought she and Harper had a mutual attraction going on. But he visited the club so infrequently she rarely saw him. And when she’d heard about his visits on the rare times she’d had a day off, she’d heard he’d hooked up with guys. The chemistry she’d seen between him and Dylan had been unmistakable.

So much for her gaydar. Yet she could too easily picture him and Dylan kissing, and her heart raced in excitement. That she’d love to see.

“I so need to get laid.”

Guys always said women had it easy. They had no idea about reality. Sure, if she wanted to catch a venereal disease or chance getting it on with a serial killer, she could easily hook up with strangers online. Most people thought that a woman in to an alternative lifestyle was either a slut or immoral. She’d had several offers from members at the club, people who actually understood that kink didn’t equal unclean , but one good thing she’d learned from her father was to keep her personal and business lives separate. One more reason not to have anything to do with Harper…or Dylan.

The club offered her steady income. Alienating paying patrons when the sex inevitably led to boredom would lose her customers. Besides that, she liked her work. She didn’t want to feel uncomfortable about seeing anyone after they broke up or they had bad sex.

She fell asleep dreaming about Harper and Dylan and woke Saturday morning to the phone ringing off the hook. “Yeah?” she growled into the receiver. Then she turned the phone around and barked again, “Yeah?”

“Easy, Freddy. It’s me.”

“Brian, get a life, would you?” Ironic, coming from her. “It’s eight o’clock on a Saturday morning. Please tell me you’re not working.”

Her brother needed to get a life even more than she did. Though he’d invested in the club to help get her business started, he remained a silent partner, making his money doing corporate investments and logistical development for big businesses. He’d recently moved back to Augusta and she couldn’t have been happier. She’d missed him when he’d left ten years ago, but she’d understood his need to escape from their father and find himself. She was still trying to figure life out after twenty-nine years and was no closer to finding the answers than Brian.

“Hey. I have things to do. A house to decorate.” He sounded way too cheerful over so menial a task. “Come over and help me.”

She moaned.

“Oh please. What are you doing right now?”

“Besides lying in bed and praying for your early demise?”

He sneered. “You have no life. Get your ass out of bed and come help me decorate my house. I’m doing a Christmas party this year, and you’re good at crap like that.”

She was. But she was even better at sleeping in and loafing—what she’d planned to do today. Though she loved her job, a girl needed her downtime.

Pouring drinks and listening to people gave her a connection to others she’d been trying to establish forever, thanks to an unavailable father. She knew her shortcomings because she’d always prided herself on being honest—especially with herself. Of course, she didn’t have to admit her issues to anyone out loud. Her secrets stayed secret.

“What do I get if I help you?” Her brother was a notorious cheapskate. At least around her.

“Breakfast?”

“That’s it?”

“Well, what else do you want?”

I want some hot, sweaty sex with men who have stars in their eyes for me. Not something she could share with her brother. “How about a really good breakfast? You have to make me French toast.”

He sighed. “Fine. Then pick up eggs and bread on the way over.” He paused. “How about some coffee and milk too? And cinnamon.”

Two hours and fifty dollars worth of groceries later, she sat with her brother at his new kitchen counter and ate the French toast she’d made. At least he’d paid for the groceries.

“You suck,” she said around a mouthful of calories she’d burn off just breathing. Some women had to worry about losing weight. She usually worried about not gaining enough.

“Yeah yeah. You’re eating, aren’t you?” He sipped his coffee. “You know, I’m still surprised I love this house. After living in condos and shitty apartments over the years, I didn’t think I’d ever want grass. But I have a yard and a pool. I like this.”

“You’re getting old.”

He laughed. “Probably.” Just five years her senior, Brian had spent the majority of his life doing what their father wanted. Then he’d seen the light and left Brian Senior behind. Freddy could have told him their father would never find anything Brian did good enough, but then, she was the bad daughter who’d chosen to live with her mother after the divorce, so what did she know?

At least she had her mother and brother in her corner. “Talked to Mom lately?” she asked.

“Yeah. She’s living it up in Paris until spring. I think Aunt Selma’s been a good influence.”

“Good. Mom gets too down in the winter. She can’t do Christmas without thinking about him .” Their father put Scrooge to shame.

“True. I still don’t understand how she can consider them friends. I’m his son, and I can’t stand the guy.”

She snorted. “Hangin’ Judge Goode. What a bastard.”

They laughed together. She almost wished she’d kept her father’s last name, so she could flaunt that a Goode owned a sex club in the judge’s own hometown. But she didn’t relish opening that can of worms. The more distance between her father and her, the better.

“You seeing anyone?” Brian asked out of the blue.

Her thoughts immediately went to Harper and Dylan. “No.”

“Me either.” He sighed. “I was hoping Sydney might… But she’s head over heels for her boyfriend. Bad timing on my part, I guess. I should have moved back earlier, before they started dating.”

“Sydney?”

“The beautiful redhead who sold me the house. Sydney Fields. She’s been a good friend and a real help since I moved here. Her boyfriend lives down the street. Nice guy, actually.”

She shrugged. “In my experience, timing is everything. If I’d been just five minutes earlier coming home last December, Lou might not have met Sarah Ann and realized how much better a girlfriend she’d make than me.” She sighed. “Is it wrong I’m happier without him, and that I still remain friends with him? Maybe I’m just a loner.”

“I guess we both are.” They stared at one another and made sad faces.

Then Brian cracked up, and she snorted and said, “We don’t do pathetic well, do we?”

Brian shook his head. “No. And though I probably shouldn’t admit this, I’m not exactly a loner. I’ve had my share of dates since being here. Just no one steady.”

“Right. Dates. That’s a euphemism for sex. Nice.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re such a guy.”

“Hey, I have needs. And too many people would talk if I introduced them to my blow-up doll girlfriend.”

She laughed. She’d been pestered too many times at the club, so for the last April Fool’s Day, she’d shown up with an inflatable man and introduced him as her true love—a joke people still talked about to this day. “Mr. Freddy was a gag.”