“It’s driving me ape shit, T!” Vivian cried at Taryn over the thumping baseline.  Taryn chuckled lowly. But fortunately for her, the music shadowed her laughter.  “It’s been going on for two months now!”

 

“Baby, you need to relax. I’m sure whomever it may be is intelligent, funny, and incredibly attractive. In fact, I’m thinking I need a secret admirer of my own just for the erotic rush,” Taryn replied with a sigh.

 

“Taryn, please. He’s probably a toothless pervert with halitosis and a comb-over,” Vivian retorted. Taryn busted up, her laughter echoing across the dance floor as the song faded to a close. The two women sat in a darkened section of Jobangles Night Life in Beaumont, a town only 18 miles south of Cedar Grove.

 

Taryn wiped away the tears caused by her laughter. “Besides, Viv, you can’t tell me you don’t like it.”

 

Vivian blushed slightly. But even under the flashes of beaming light, Taryn noticed the scarlet rise in her cheeks. “Oh, Taryn. I can’t explain it. His words. They…they’re. They touch me. Right here,” Vivian confessed, laying her hand over her heart. “No one has ever told me that my face is the first thing he wants to see each morning and the last thing he’s sees at night. That inside my body beats the heart of angel. Or that he wishes upon the stars that twinkle in my eyes.”

 

Taryn just watched her friend’s face. The swooning smile that perked the corners of her lips into two rows of pearly whites. The distant look in her pale eyes. Vivian was head over heels. Over a man she’d never even met. “So, why did you drag me here, Taryn? We have to work tomorrow, you know?” Vivian stated once the haze of love had lifted.

 

“Oh will you just shut up and have fun for once?!” Taryn snapped in reply, tossing a cherry into her open mouth. “You need to get out. Score yourself some fine-ass nookie. Christ, Viv! How long has it been since you taken a ride on the wild baloney pony?”

 

Vivian pressed her face into the palms of her hands. “You are so embarrassing, Taryn. It’s a wonder I hang out with you at all.”

 

Taryn just smiled. “You see that fine bitch standing over there? The tall blonde with muscles ‘til Tuesday?” Taryn asked Vivian, leaning toward her and subtly gesturing to the man in question with her index finger.

 

Vivian turned and looked. “Yeah. What about him?”

 

“What I wouldn’t give for one night alone with that mother--! I would show him things he never dreamed possible. Fulfill his every desire and fantasy.” She caught the man’s eye and licked her upper lip slowly with her tongue, flashing a wink in his direction. And a smile broke across her face. “I’ll be back. He’s signaling me over,” Taryn said, smearing a light coating of lipstick over her lips.

 

“Taryn, you have a sexy Spaniard waiting for you at home,” Vivian stated.

 

“I love Diego. I won’t do anything to hurt him,” Taryn affirmed. “I’m like a cat. And that guy’s just a mouse in my game of ‘toy with it till I get bored.’”

 

Vivian sighed as she watched Taryn saunter away. She lifted her drink to her lips just as someone approached her table. “Mind if I join you?” his deep voice asked.

 

Vivian lifted her eyes to meet the intense gaze of the man from the shop, his eyes twinkling under the zipping neon lights. “Not at all,” she squeaked. ‘What am I a 13 year old boy going through puberty?’ she questioned herself when she heard her voice crack.

 

“I’m Kevin,” he said, taking the vacated seat once belonging to Taryn.

 

“I’m Vivian. Or Viv. Your choice,” Vivian replied. She paused momentarily, studying the delicious morsel of manhood sitting at her table. She liked the way he wore his hair in a low ponytail, exposing the sleek muscles of his neck. The way he trimmed his goatee close to his face, leaving the hairs on his chin longer than the rest. Her gaze fell on his mouth. The thin lips. Skinny, yet so damn kissable. She sighed subconsciously and his lips parted to reveal beautifully straight teeth.

 

“What?” she asked nervously.

 

“Get distracted?”

 

Vivian could feel the crimson blush creeping up her neck. “You look familiar. That’s all,” she covered. “Do I know you from somewhere?” she inquired.

 

Kevin sat back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. “Enid’s Garden,” he replied softly, bringing his squatty glass of amber liquid to his lips.

 

“That’s right!” Vivian agreed, faking surprise. “What brings you by so often, Kevin?”

 

“Enid and I go way back,” was his honest, yet vague reply.

 

The two settled into casual conversation, laughing periodically at what the other had said. Vivian occasionally peered over Kevin’s shoulder to spy on Taryn and her current “mouse.” She giggled watching Taryn’s sultry antics. The way she flirtatiously brushed the strands of blond hair away from the man’s forehead. The way she touched his arm playfully every time she laughed. He was eating out of the palm of her hand. Her gaze followed Taryn and the mystery man out to the dance floor, his tall frame towering over Taryn’s petite, his large hands damn near spanning her waist as the two gyrated against each other.

 

“Do you want to?”

 

Vivian looked over at Kevin who nodded his head in the direction of Taryn and her boy toy. “Sure,” she said.

 

Kevin rose to his feet and offered Vivian his hand, a bolt of electricity shocking the two on contact. He wrapped his arms around her waist, feeling the soft satiny feel of the skin on her lower back under his fingertips. She rested her arms along his and the two moved together to the soft thump of the baseline. The music slowed its pace and Kevin subconsciously pulled Vivian closer to him. She laid her head on his solid chest, listening to the rhythmic pumping of his heart.

 

But the mood didn’t last long. “Get the fuck off me!!” Taryn yelled. Vivian lifted her head just in time to see Taryn shove the blond man away roughly. The man latched on to her arm and yanked her toward him, trying his hardest to press his lips to hers. He held her fast, his tongue darting into Taryn’s mouth. But Taryn yanked her hand free and belted him across the face with a fierce blow.

 

“I said get the fuck off me!!” she shouted as the man rubbed his inflamed cheek. “What gives you the right to just grab my cooter, you sick sonofabitch?”

 

“Fuck you, bitch. You’ve been begging for since you walked in the door!” the man countered. “You were pleading for me to top you off!”

 

Kevin grabbed Vivian’s hand in his and zigzagged his way through the gawking crowd, stopping near the action. “Settle down, buddy. The lady asked to be left alone,” Kevin stated.

 

The man turned toward him. “I don’t believe this is any of your fucking business, pal. This bitch has some unfinished work here. And she ain’t leaving until I get what she’s been tossing at me all night.”

 

 Vivian could see the fire raging in Taryn’s eyes. And silently held her breath for the other man. She knew how powerful Taryn could be when provoked to such high levels of anger. And no sooner had Vivian whispered her silent prayer than Taryn reacted, bringing her knee into direct contact with the man’s balls. “Kind of hard to top someone off with busted balls, bitch!” Taryn spat as the man went down. Thunderous applause erupted and Taryn took a bow, flexing her muscles and high-fiving people standing nearby.

 

“Come on, Conan. Let’s get you and your Barbarian ways out of this place before we’re kicked out on our asses,” Vivian laughed, taking Taryn’s hand in her free one and pulling both her and a stunned Kevin toward the door.

They stopped just outside and Kevin leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on each woman’s cheek. “I’ll see you around. Thanks for a letting me in on great night,” he said in Taryn’s ear.

 

She patted his cheek. “No problem,” she winked.

 

“I’ll swing by the store tomorrow. Maybe we can do lunch?” he asked Vivian meekly.

 

“That would be fabulous, Kevin. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Noonish,” she replied.

 

“Sleep well.” He kissed her knuckles lightly and walked away, Vivian staring after him with stars in her eyes.

 

“So, explain something to me,” Taryn began, dropping her arm over Vivian’s shoulders. “Why in the hell didn’t you take hot buns home with you?”

 

“It’s not like that, T. I don’t want a one-night stand. I want something more.”

 

Taryn sighed exasperatedly. “Why do you keep doing this to me? If I were you, I would have been all over that boy like white on rice!” she cried.

 

“Taryn, go home to Diego and get laid. Or I’ll call him and tell him about the fiasco with the fuck shit from inside.”

 

“Ouch.”