“All the time,” Micah said.
“Vaguely,” Dean said. “It’s not like it was the greatest time of our life.”
“That’s my boy.” Micah swigged back another mouthful of drink.
“You’ve gone all serious on us. What gives?” Dean asked.
“Do you guys remember that girl? Long, brown hair, it kind of glistened in the sunlight but not because it was greasy. A sweet smile. Big tits and hips.” He thought back to Daphne Lewis. There were times over the years he’d thought about her, fleeting thoughts.
“Daphne,” Dean and Micah said in unison.
“Damn,” Micah said. “I … we were so fucking horrible to her. I always thought she was hot, but she was never on the cheerleading squad. Did she ever go to any of the games?”
He and Dean shook their heads.
“She was too good for a lot of the jerks. I couldn’t stand it when guys would hang around her.”
“Before her parents died, she always smiled,” Dean said.
“Yeah, she had the perfect life. At least I thought so for a long time.” Eric swallowed the last of his drink, needing to do something other than go down memory lane. “I wanted to fuck her so badly and I hated myself for it.”
“Wait? What? Dude, out of all of us, you were the worst at bullying her. You stuffed condoms into her locker and you even made sure the rumors of her having an STD went around the school.”
“I didn’t hate her. She was just too perfect.”
“How can someone be too perfect?”
Eric shrugged, getting to his feet. “Who knows? I was a messed-up kid with a dad at home who pissed me off. I took it out on her. She got everything until she didn’t.”
“You didn’t stop picking on her,” Dean said. “None of us did.”
Silence fell between them.
Eric frowned. “So, wait a minute. You all knew who I was talking about and you all wanted her in high school?”
“Guilty,” Micah said.
“Yes,” Dean said.
Eric looked at his friends. “What do you think she’s doing right now?”
“Well, with how perfect she was, I’d say she’s married with a couple hundred kids,” Micah said, the smile fading as he rubbed at his chest.
“Instead of us speculating what she’s doing, why not look her up?” Dean got to his feet and sat in front of the open laptop. He pulled up his social media account, which was mainly used by their company to keep updates and to have a broad presence as well as for research purposes.
Eric leaned over Dean, reading some of the names that came up. Nothing.
“She’s not on social media,” Micah said.
“Okay. After her parents died, where did she go?” Eric asked.
“Her grandma,” Dean said, already typing into the computer. The bed-and-breakfast Eric remembered from his past came up. A newspaper headline captured their attention, showcasing the bed-and-breakfast and the brand-new owner as Daphne Lewis. “The old woman died. Wow.”
“Daphne’s all alone,” Eric said.
He stared at the picture. It showed Daphne in a beautiful white summer dress, hands on her hips. Her glorious hair cascaded down around her shoulders. The smile on her lips wasn’t as full as he remembered, but damn it, an answering pull in his cock drew him.
“I want her,” he said.
“No, you cannot do that. All three of us want her and you know the drill,” Micah said.
Eric stood up, looking from Dean to Micah. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I thought of her first.”
“That doesn’t count. It has never counted.”
He glared at his friends. The address was right there. Back home. Back where they all started.
He was an asshole back then. Hopefully, Daphne would have a big laugh over what happened, and he’d be able to connect with her.
Who the fuck was he kidding? He didn’t want to just connect with her. Even now, with space between them, he wanted to fuck her. To hear the sound of his name coming from her sweet lips as he drove inside her.
He’d been a dick back then, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t give him a chance now. If his memory served him right, she’d always been a nice woman. Sweet, kind, loving. She helped everyone.
Dean already had his cell phone to his ear.
“Hi, yes, I’d like to make a booking please,” Dean said.
He pulled his cell phone out just as Micah did as well.
“You can’t get me a room sooner?” There was a pause. Eric listened, seeing as his call was on hold as well. “Okay, in six months, can you make that for three rooms please?”
Eric hung up the call as Dean finished with the arrangements.
“What are you doing?” he asked. Micah didn’t look too pleased either.
“Simple, there’s only one way I can win her from you guys, and you’re going to have to be there to admit defeat.”
****
Present day
Micah cracked his knuckles and stretched out his neck. That hadn’t gone well at all. he didn’t know what the fuck was happening. Was he losing his touch? Women swarmed to him. He was good at what he did. Even in the boardroom, when tempers rose, he had the art of calming everyone the fuck down.