“You too, Glenn. And everything else.”
He smiles, a light and brilliant smile. “Be safe on your drive, okay?”
“I will.”
There’s nothing to say after that, and we’re both delaying the inevitable. So I give him a small wave and shut the door behind me. I can’t help but feel like I’m shutting the door on something more than a one-night stand. But that’s just the sex talking. I’ll keep that memory close, and use it to get me through the hell that’s in front of me.
5
Glenn
The drive back to Green Hills is long. I’m tired from lack of sleep and a lot of sex, and I kind of just want to take a nap. But to do that I have to get home first. I should have hired someone to drive me so I could have slept in the car.
But I’m almost there now.
I’m only a couple exits from Green Hills. This is my favorite part of the state, with beautiful rolling fields that our town is named for. There are distant trees that stand out against the horizon, and today’s blue sky is peppered with billowing white clouds. I could be driving through a postcard based on the view out my window.
But honestly, it’s not the view I want right now. I can’t get Diamond out of my head. Her sexy moans and her body and the way she asked for what she wanted with no hesitation. And the way she blushed as we said goodbye, like she wanted more even though we both knew we couldn’t have it.
I almost asked her to stay. I almost gave her my phone number and asked her to call. I don’t know how that would help, because five hours is a hell of a commute for some sex. Even if it was really great sex. But it shouldn’t matter.
I pull up to my house, and sigh. I love my house. It’s the one thing that I’ve truly splurged on with the money. I had it built on the outskirts of town, and it has plenty of space and one hell of a view. It’s many miles away from where I grew up, and miles from the kind of life I had when I was growing up.
Because of that, every time I come home I feel a huge sense of relief. This house is my safe haven. It makes me remember that I’ll never have to go back there, and it reminds me of how far I’ve come.
I grab my bag and head into the house, leaving it in the foyer. I’ll deal with it later. Right now I have to do what I’ve been waiting to do for a long time. There’s a calendar in my kitchen. On the way I grab a pen, and I go to cross off the first day of Dirty Thirty.
I’m about to cross off today, since I’m exhausted and I slept with Diamond this morning. But I hesitate before my pen can hit the paper. For whatever reason, it doesn’t feel right. She doesn’t feel like any one-night stand that I’ve had before. She was vibrant and dynamic and using her for this purpose seems weird.
Jesus, Glenn. Get your shit together. I reach out and mark off the day. Day 1, complete. Here we go.
I’ll be honest, it doesn’t feel like I thought it would. I expected to feel pride at starting this thing that I’ve basically been planning for thirteen years. But all I feel is tired. Man, they say that hangovers hit you harder when you turn thirty, and they were right.
I need a nap, and then I need to check in with Brennan at First Shot and make sure everything is ready for tomorrow. We’re expecting even bigger crowds than there were when I left yesterday, and we’re going to be providing snacks and drinks for those people waiting in line outside. But they have to wait for their free shot until they get inside.
As well as the refreshments, it’s basically going to be a fair. There will be a water dunk tank, where all three of the owners of First Shot will take their turn, along with the staff. We’ll have dart throwing and pie eating competitions and corn hole games. It’s a huge undertaking, and for once I’m just glad that I wasn’t the one that had to plan all of it.
I haven’t even had any emails telling me that something massive has gone wrong. Yet.
Going upstairs, I sink onto my bed with a groan. Now that I’m home, I kind of feel like I got hit by a truck. I need to sleep. Just for a couple of hours before I get up and do some work before tomorrow. My eyes are closing already, and the last thing I think of before I fall asleep is the taste of Diamond’s lips.