Gage, Ronna - The Search is Over (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Rafe took a sip of beer and caught the eye of a pretty woman across the room. And you are? He racked his mind trying to come up with a name from the girls he knew in high school. Surely, she had gone to school with him. He watched as the sexy, blonde-haired woman circled the dining room to the kegs. She easily made her way around to his side, ignoring advances from the other men in the room. She looked up at him with big brown eyes, filled with that hero-worship that he’d known before he left the neighborhood. Chelsea had looked at him numerous times with that same look…the one that ultimately had gotten him hitched to a woman he really didn’t love.

  She stood in front of him. Her eyes roamed over his body with a slow, intent gaze as she measured his person from his head to his toes, and then back to look directly into his eyes again. She gave him a teasing smile. “Are you Rafe Sines?”

  Rafe folded his arms over his chest and returned the purposeful observation. The tight, low-cut blouse revealed the voluptuous curve of her breasts, tight black jeans settled low on her hips, and the sparkle of a belly button ring winked at him. This evening is looking up. “Could be.” He gave a shrug and a lopsided grin, a practiced seductive move. “Who wants to know?”

  She took the cup of beer he held, brought it to her lips, and took a slow, sensual drink. Her fingernails skimmed his neck to his chin. She pulled him close to her lips. As he opened his for her, she shot the swallow of beer into his mouth. If that action wasn’t wild enough, she rubbed her body up against him.

  “Just call me Liv.” She sealed her answer with a kiss. Taking the cup of beer, she retreated to the party in the living room.

  Rafe looked at the two dumbstruck guys next to him. “Who the fuck was she?”

  Ricky and Jase stood smiling. “Only Rafe Sines could get a woman to do that. You, my friend, have just met Liv. And take my word for it, everyone has been trying to get into her pants,” Ricky said as they eyed the popular Liv across the room.

  “Where did she come from?” The new girl intrigued Rafe. He wasn’t surprised that men were trying to get into her pants. The unsuccessful attempts did, though.

  “She’s one of Jack Posen’s girls,” Jase answered.

  Rafe did a double take. Did I hear that right? “Jack Posen? Damn, that guy is still around?” He hadn’t thought about Jack Posen in forever. The two were in an unofficial competition to see who could score with the most girls. That little rivalry usually kept them overlapping each other’s territory. No harm done.

  “Yeah, and if Liv is here”—Ricky looked around the party—“Jack isn’t too far away.”

  As if on cue, Jack came into the kitchen with another girl on his arm. Jack’s eyes grew large, and his smile grew bigger. “Ho-ly shit! Rafe Sines, is that you?” Jack shouted in surprise. His quick advancement to Rafe demonstrated his actual gladness to see him.

  To see Jack Posen make a beeline for him stunned Rafe. He smiled with a genuine affection for his one-time rival. “Hey, Jack, how the hell are you?” He shook Jack’s hand.

  The taller and thinner Jack didn’t look the same. His curly blond-brown hair had taken on an uncontrollable style. It was more than what Rafe remembered. Sparkling blue eyes revealed a passion for life, and his roguish smile had stirred a lot of women in Jack’s past. That love for life and lust flattered Jack’s untamable personality.

  “I’m good,” Jack answered. “How are you?”

  “Good,” he looked around the room. “Slow night.”

  “How long have you been back in town?”

  “I got back this week.” Rafe felt a bump at his arm. He looked to receive a second cup of beer that Jase handed him.

  Jack looked around the immediate area. “Where’s Chelsea?”

  Rafe felt that sensation of failure hit his gut that always assaulted him when Chelsea’s name came up. Shaking it off, he smiled. “We’re divorced.”

  Jack’s face changed. He showed actual displeasure. “Oh, man, I’m sorry. I hadn’t heard.”

  “No problem, it happens even to the best of us.” Rafe eased the tension.

  Jack narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “Do we hate her now?” he whispered with a conspirator’s jest.

  Rafe grinned at the support. His rival was willing to talk trash about his ex-wife if he wanted. “No, it’s all right. We just didn’t work out.”

  “It wasn’t meant to be.” Jack gave him a friendly slap on the arm.

  Rafe noticed Liv coming toward him and Jack. He watched her make her way into the room. “I see you’re as busy as ever.”

  Jack looked at the two girls, Liv on his left side and the other on stood on his right. “I’d like you to meet Crystal,” he said, introducing the new woman.

  Rafe examined Crystal closely for a span of two seconds. Her black hair set atop her head in a claw-like clip, which kept the mass away from her face. He found her attractive, but she had an air of pretentiousness about her. She looked flawless. Her immaculate makeup evenly covered her face. Yet her brown eyes were cold. Who can fuck that iceberg? Her glaring eyes at the partygoers showed her distaste for this kind of crowd. The party blared with loud music, uproarious laughter, and with too much boozing immaturity for her liking.

  “…and this is her friend, Liv.”

  Liv smiled as she looked up at Jack “Yeah, we met earlier.” She then turned and gave Rafe a wink. “He gave me a sip of beer.”

  Jack looked from Rafe to Liv. “I guess we need to go and meet Crystal’s brother. He isn’t one to go party hopping.”

  Looking at Crystal, Rafe could see why. If her sibling were anything like her, he wouldn’t be into hopping the neighborhood parties. But what’s the connection with Liv?

  Liv placed a hand on Rafe’s shoulder. She tiptoed until she came eye-to-eye with him. She withdrew a slip of paper out of her bra and handed it to him. “Call me,” she whispered. “Anytime.”

  Shaking his head, Jack took the piece of paper from Rafe’s hand. “Right. She’s engaged to Crystal’s brother. Right now, she’s upset with him, but the two will be back together by morning.”

  Rafe smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He looked at Liv. “Do you always carry a slip of paper in your bra?”

  Liv smiled. “You would be surprised what I have in places that only you can see.”

  Jack physically turned her away from Rafe. “I better get her out of here before her behavior comes back and bites both of us in the ass,” he said with a look of warning.

  Rafe bowed up his chest. He’d finally got the answer to the question that had plagued him for months. “I still got it.”

  Jack cocked an eyebrow and fished in his back pocket for his wallet. “Well, call me so we can use that power of persuasion over women for our own selfish and dark needs.” Jack handed him a business card.

  Rafe looked at it. “Not bad, you own your own home repair and improvement business.”

  “Handyman extraordinaire.” Jack bowed slightly.

  “Come on, Jack, I’m bored,” Crystal complained, pulling him in the direction of the doorway.

  “I guess we’ll see you later.” Jack led the two women through the house.

  Rafe could hear the good-byes that followed the three of them out the front door. He looked around the room. Boys from the neighborhood had turned to men. The girls had turned into women. Couples sat together on chairs, or other furniture. Men were in the corner bullshitting about various defeats, or just reminiscing about high school. Rafe realized that the kids of the neighborhood had turned the legal age to drink and party, but they still partied like they were sixteen. And the topics of conversation were pretty much the same. Jobs, school, extreme sports, and power drinking. He had that familiar feeling of home. He pumped the keg for another cup of beer.

  Here’s to the ageless neighborhood kids.

  Chapter Two

  Rafe looked around the darkened room and sighed with relief. The afternoon hours peacefully slipped by in the quiet calm inside the notorious gentleman’s club known as
Desert Illusions. The lunch crowd came and went an hour ago, and the dancers wouldn’t perform for another three hours. So the practical ghost town gave Rafe the quiet place he needed to think about his next move. He looked around. Two waitresses tended to the small assortment of patrons that stopped by for a quiet drink or the leftover lunch buffet. Rafe liked the costume attire of black body leotard, tan-colored hose, and spiked high heels. There’s something about a woman in high heels that demands attention.

  You have to find a place to live, his conscience reminded him.

  Living with his parents’ rules seemed to close in on him. They insisted he be in at a certain time. His mom yelled at him for leaving his stuff all around.

  “You need to pick up after yourself, and clean house,” she said more than once.

  I feel like a kid again.

  Sometime during the last two weeks, he came to a difference of opinion regarding his old neighborhood. No one grew up. They may have grown to adulthood, but they aren’t adults. The youthful antics of power-drinking all night were over. Maybe, at some point in his marriage, he stumbled into maturity. On the other hand, the restless boredom could be the persona of the notorious Rafe Sines’s return to the neighborhood. He didn’t want to meet the expectations of that reputation any longer. Either way, this wasn’t the life he wanted. But what do I want? As he wondered, pondered, and theorized all the levels of his living experiences, one thing became abundantly clear. If I don’t stop acting like a kid, I’ll be in a lot of trouble, or possibly dead, soon.

  “Hey, Rafe, long time no see,” Jack greeted, interrupting his thoughts. He mounted the stool next to him.

  The bar door had opened and closed so many times throughout the afternoon that Rafe had tuned it out to concentrate on the problem at hand. He didn’t notice that someone had approached him.

  “Hey, man, how are you doing?” They shook hands in greeting. Rafe looked at the clock on the counter. “What brings you here so early?”

  The bartendress sat a beer down in front of him. Jack gave her a simple chin up in greeting. “I’m just looking for something to do. I just left Kelly’s house. Man, she pissed me off.” Jack’s frustration shone in his eyes, but when he gulped down half of the beer in the mug, they sparkled with that same old mischief.

  “I’m confused. I thought her name was Crystal?” Rafe said recalling the woman at the party.

  “Who? Oh yeah.” Rafe noticed Jack’s soft smile. “That was two weeks ago.”

  Rafe laughed. That is so typical of Jack Posen. Hopping from one woman to another, no attachments to keep him tied for too long. “Well, while you’re out screwing, I’m looking for a new place to live.”

  Jack looked at Rafe with wide surprised eyes. “Really?”

  Rafe shrugged, exhaled audibly and shook his head. “I need to get away from the old neighborhood. I just can’t stand the drama anymore.”

  “Yeah, I know the feeling. I only stopped by that night because we were supposed to meet Tony there.”

  “I wondered what was so different about the same old crowd I grew up with for so many years, and then it hit me.”

  “What?”

  “I know exactly what changed. I did, not the crowd. That one night at the party was fun. Hell, even the first week was cool. But I’m not a kid anymore. I want something more out of life.”

  “Things change and you just outgrew them.”

  Jack’s understanding gave Rafe the opportunity to vocalize his thoughts. “Yes, but where does that leave me now?”

  The two sat in the stillness of their thoughts and nursed their beers. “I have an idea,” Jack said suddenly, almost excited by the thought. “Why don’t you come out to my place for awhile? It’s not much, but I have an extra room, and you’re more than welcome to it.”

  Rafe’s spirits lifted at the idea. “I could have a new set of friends, new place to live, and maybe a new party scene.” He looked around the bar. “Not that I’d ever give up my new hangout here at the titty bar.”

  Jack laughed. “Good, come by and check it out, see what you think, and make your decision after.”

  “Sounds good.” Rafe felt the weight of the world lift from his shoulders. “I can definitely use a new start.”

  “Could I get you boys another beer?” the bartendress asked, leaning against the bar, flashing her ample breasts which she stuffed in her black leotard.

  Cherry, the lead bartender during the day shift, showed a warm spot for Rafe, and he liked her. She gave him free beers and shots of bourbon for his services with the rowdy customers who groped her as she passed. Her auburn hair hung down her back in a ponytail. Her small waist flared to full hips, and a gold chain encircled the flat tummy, emphasizing her tiny hourglass figure.

  “And they are?” Rafe asked, pointing from one breast to the other.

  Cherry fingered her plunging neckline. “These girls are top-of-the-line and very expensive. Any introductions will cost you more than you make in a week.”

  “Nice purchases,” Jack complimented.

  Rafe looked at Jack. “Cherry, give us a pitcher please. We’re going to celebrate.”

  Her bright smile flashed them with another high-maintenance expense. “What are you celebrating?”

  Rafe lifted his beer. “I propose a toast. Here’s to changes.” Rafe and Jack clanked mugs.

  In the last hour of quiet, Rafe’s mind wondered to the potential benefits of having Jack as a roommate. Hanging out with Jack would be nothing but fun.

  Chapter Three

  Candi held the buzzing phone in her hand and stared off into space. The sound of footsteps down the hall penetrated her stupor. She clicked off the phone. “I sensed something different about Jesse before he left on his trip to his mother’s.” She thought back. “He seemed preoccupied and distant, which centered around a mysterious phone call he’d received prior to making the arrangements.”

  “What you doing, kiddo?” Minerva, her roommate, asked from the coffeemaker.

  “I just tried to call Jesse, but he doesn’t answer at this mother’s.” Minerva hung her head and averted looking at her eye to eye. “What’s going on?”

  “Oh, honey.” She walked to the table and sat down. “Come sit with me. I don’t know how to say this, so I’m going straight on with it. I think I should let you in on a family secret.”

  Candi sat down at the table. She set the phone next to her. “What?”

  “Jesse’s old high school flame, Stephanie, contacted him two months ago, and they’ve been talking while you’re at work.”

  Candi felt the bottom come out of her world. “Before he left on this so-called visit to his mother?”

  Minerva nodded. “I think Stephanie’s the reason for the visit in the first place. And I think he will be going back up north for good after this trip is over.”

  Candi shook her head in frustration. “I need this living arrangement to go to school. I don’t have the job security necessary to move out on my own, or the time needed to find either an apartment or better job.”

  “Well, like I said. I believe he will come here long enough to pack his shit and get. So you don’t have to leave.”

  Candi shook her head, hoping to clear her mind of this nightmare. “It was only a short three months ago when he and I met.” She narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t he move here to San Antonio on a supposed brief visit to his dad?

  “Yeah, come to think of it.”

  “Hmm, seems to be a pattern here.” The two of them giggled.

  “Yeah, I think it’s typical of him.”

  “We seemed to hit it off and even had some good times together.”

  “What made you get involved in the first place?”

  “Jesse’s handsome, rugged good looks.”

  “Yes, I can see that. He’s always been a pretty boy.”

  “He’s tall, conditioned, and every bit the former Marine. And as an added bonus, he made me laugh. I guess from the start I knew our relationship wouldn’t last, bu
t I also hoped that the closeness that built between us would last a little longer.”

  “Why? Were you falling for him?”

  “No, but I don’t want to have juggle schedules so he and I can live in some kind of harmony.” Her stomach felt tight and ill.

  “I wouldn’t. And he damn sure isn’t going to do it for you,” Minerva pointed out. “Now, go ahead and get ready for work. We’ll leave in about an hour.”

  Candi poured herself another cup of coffee and headed to her bedroom with some sense of peace that Minerva was on her side. What could be gained by spending time on a relationship that had moved on—without her? Pain and anger didn’t overcome her of the break-up. Annoyance was a better description. This news put her in a possible financial bind with no immediate way out.

  * * * *

  The May Texas heat hit a record high, and the humidity in the air choked the quiet in the trailer, stifling his breath. But Rafe didn’t dare move an inch to monitor her across the yard. The sticky sweat on his torso trickled down his back and collected just beyond the waistband of his cutoff shorts. “It’s a shame to waste all this heat,” he said with a chuckle, rubbing the sweat off his forehead. He continued to watch her hang out the basket of wet clothes on the makeshift clothesline.

  Her red, thin-strapped tank top showed off the darkening skin, while her tight, faded, denim cutoff shorts bared her ass cheeks when she bent over. Come on over they seemed to invite every time she retrieved another article of clothing from the laundry basket.

  “This is definitely my favorite outfit,” he surmised. He reached over and marked the spot off of the next level of darkness on the Coors Light Tan-o-meter poster he swiped from Cherry two nights before. He liked comparing her to the darkness of the model on the picture.

  The rough fabric cut into the lips of the flesh he desired, opening her for his viewing pleasure, and he immediately felt the semi-hard reaction in his pants. It throbbed at the sight of her tight ass. Her glistening blonde hair reminded him of a pot of honey with rays of sunlight streaked through. Mentally, his hands sifting through the wet, loose mass that hung around her shoulders. She must have just showered. Good God, if I keep this up, I’m gonna need a cold shower. Even that thought didn’t stop him from gawking at her. In fact, he loved to watch at her. It’d become his favorite pastime, one he looked forward to every day.