Double Coverage (2 page)

Next to her, Mason the douche, just sat there laughing at her. If she wasn’t currently mouth-deep in her puke bag, she would punch the living daylights out of him.

“Teaches you to mess with me.” When the plane leveled out, he pressed the button for the flight attendant.

A perky blonde, who was blatantly flirting with Mason smiled down at him and asked, “Can I help you, sir?”

Mason jerked his thumb toward Piper and said, “Yeah, this one couldn’t handle the takeoff. She is kind of smelling up the place with her puke bag. Do you think you can take care of it for us?”

“Of course, sir.” The flight attendant eyed Piper with a distasteful look and offered to take Piper’s puke bag.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Piper handed the bag over to the judgmental flight attendant. Piper was tempted to drop the bag on Mason’s lap, but knew that was only going to spread the smell and make her throw up some more.

“Thank you,” Piper murmured, while Mason continued to laugh. What a dick!

***

Thank God Mason spent three years living in the football house in college dealing with drunk idiots because, if he hadn’t, the smell of Jojo’s puke would have him lunging for his little puke bag as well. He started to feel bad that he’d made her puke, but then retracted that thought when her not-so-ladylike insults ran through his mind. She was being a complete bitch and for no apparent reason. He looked over at her and felt a grin spread across his face. She deserved every last bit of what she just went through.

Women were not his favorite creatures at the moment, thanks to his now ex-finance, Brooke. He thought she was it for him. They spent four years in college fawning over each other. His best friend, Jake, thought Mason was crazy for falling in love in college when they could pretty much have any girl on campus, but Mason didn’t care. He loved Brooke more than anything. Once he graduated from college, was drafted by the Denver Stallions as their starting wide receiver, started booking ad campaigns, and proposed to Brooke, he thought he was all set in life.

He guessed wrong, what he’d accomplished in life just wasn’t good enough for Brooke. The pain from Brooke’s break-up still affected him like it happened yesterday.

Two months ago, Brooke approached him while he was taking a shower and told him she wanted more. She wanted to become a singer and be famous. Initially, Mason laughed at her and tried to pull her into the shower, but when he noticed she had a bag packed next to her, he realized she might actually be serious.

He immediately got out of the shower and said, “You’re kidding, right? Brooke, you can’t sing.” He quickly grabbed a towel and wiped himself down. Being naked and having a talk about his fiancé leaving made him feel exposed.

“I can too sing! You just can’t listen well.”

Mason looked at her as if she had five heads. He rubbed the point of his towel in his ear, cleaning out any cobwebs that might have prevented him from hearing Brooke sing properly. He gestured her to proceed. “Well, by all means. Sing me a little ditty.”

She put her hands on her hips and said, “I can’t sing for you right now. There’s no music.”

Mason laughed. “Listen sweetheart, if you can’t sing without music for one person, you’re never going to be able to sing for a sold out crowd in an arena.”

“Oh Mace, you think I’ll have a sold out crowd?” Brooke asked with hopeful eyes.

Mason rolled his eyes. “Oh, Jesus! No, you are most likely having some kind of mental breakdown.”

“I am not, you ass! My daddy thinks I am going to be an amazing singer one day. Would it kill you to support me? I support you while you run around on the grass and catch a stupid brown oblong-shaped ball.”

Mason leaned his hip against the counter and stared at Brooke. “First off, that brown oblong-shaped ball is called a football and secondly, I have talent. That kind of comes in handy when you want to succeed. Thirdly, your dad thinks you shit gold, so of course he is going to tell you that you’re going to be great someday.”

“You are such a dick. This is why I’m leaving, because I can’t be in a relationship where I receive no support. All you care about is stupid football and…” she gestured toward his chest and arms, “And your stupid tattoos. Grow up Mason!” He had no clue why she had to attack his tattoos; they’d done nothing to harm her.

With that last statement she made, she was out of his life…until today. She called him to tell him she “caught her big break.” She was able to get an audition on the very popular singing contest,
Red, White and Blue Diva
. Mason, at first, had no clue how she landed an audition, but then he thought about it for a second and came to the conclusion that Brooke’s dad paid someone off. That was the only way she would be able to get on the show because tone-deaf cows could sing better than she could.

He wasn’t a big reality TV fan, but occasionally he would dabble in watching the singing contest and maybe, just once, did he vote, but that was a onetime thing and he’d just downed an entire twelve pack of beer, so he was feeling a little loose with his morals.

He couldn’t believe she had the nerve to call him and then be mad at him because he could give two shits about what she was doing with her life. Did she really think he cared at all about her shitty attempt at being a pop-star? He knew her goal was completely ridiculous and asinine and nothing would come of it. It hurt even worse that she would throw away a perfectly good relationship for something so unattainable. She had turned Mason into a very bitter ass of a man and it showed today. He made a complete stranger goad him so much that he took great pleasure in making her lose her cookies on an airplane.

Normally, his conscience would have kicked in and told him he was being an ass, but instead, he nestled himself into his very plush first class seat and smiled at his accomplishment. The bitch deserved it, he thought.

He looked over at his flying companion and chuckled. She was slumped in her chair, legs spread and head bobbing to the side. Her sunglasses had fallen off and little sprigs of red hair poked out from under her hoodie. He scanned her face and noticed how creamy white her skin was; he was going to ignore that for now and, instead, focus on the pool of drool she’d started to acquire in the corner of her mouth that dripped down to her shoulder. He refrained from taking a picture and posting it on Facebook, even though he wanted to so badly it made his fingers itch. That would be a seriously dick move. Although, the more he thought about it, the more he itched to grab his phone.

He quickly scanned the plane and noticed everyone was enamored with their own plane activities, so he grabbed his phone out of his pocket. Thankfully, it was on airplane mode, and he took a quick snapshot of the “sleeping beauty.” He would Instagram the shit out of that picture later.

For the rest of the flight, he lay back in his chair, shut his eyes and enjoyed the ride to San Diego. It was going to be a very, very long weekend full of love, romance and marriage; something he really did not want to be a part of, but he would because he would pretty much do anything for his best friends, Jake and Lexi.

Chapter 2

Piper could not believe she was in the airplane bathroom with the jackass who was sitting next to her. What would possess her to follow him into the small confines of the lavatory? Oh, that’s right, he kept flashing her that devilish smile and she couldn’t resist.

His strong hands lifted her sweater off of her body and that was when she realized she was wearing nothing underneath. Was she that hung over that she completely forgot to put on undergarments?

When he slipped his hand down into her jeans, she realized she really was that hung over because she was wearing absolutely no underwear. At least it was easy access for him. She worked her jeans down so they were around her ankles and then he propped her up on the sink counter. She felt the faucet head dig into her backside, but she didn’t care. She was too excited that she was going to make it into the mile-high club, which had always been a secret fantasy of hers.

She knew the moment she saw this man that he was an ass, but he would be a good lover because of it. He attacked her lips with need she had never felt before. She hoped to God he couldn’t taste the actions of her stomach from earlier in the flight. That would be humiliating, but he knew she threw up and he was the one with the idea of heading back to the bathroom, so he must not have a problem with it.

He ran his hands down her back, across her thighs and teased her center. She felt herself throb and was just about to beg him to take her, to make her scream, when something knocked her in the shoulder. She looked to her side, but nothing was there. Then she was knocked in the head. That was when she startled and realized she was having a sex dream…on the airplane. Humiliation filled her face as she looked up at the man she was fantasizing about. He had a huge grin on his face and a rolled up magazine in his hand.

She rubbed her head. “What the hell? Did you smack me with that thing?”

Mason looked down at the rolled up magazine and shrugged. “Yeah, we landed and hell if I was going to touch you, not with that pool or saliva waiting to flow over on your shoulder.” He gestured to her side with the magazine.

Piper quickly looked at her shoulder and gasped, while quickly wiping the side of her mouth. The only thing that would be worse than this would be if she made some kind of moaning noise while she was dreaming.

“By the way,” he added “I didn’t know I made such an impression on you that you wanted me to start squeezing your nipples. I usually wait until we have dinner to do that.” The smile on his face could have stretched the length of the plane, if his face was any bigger.

She did not remember anything about her nipples being touched. “Did I really tell you to touch my nipples? I don’t remember that.”

Mason barked out in laughter. “Jesus, I was just pulling your leg. So those little noise you were making were part of a sex dream about me.” He laughed again. “Awesome.”

Piper punched him as hard as she could in the arm. “You are a fucking asshole. You know that?”

Mason rubbed his arm. “So I’ve heard. You know, you better watch yourself; I could charge you with assault.”

Piper tucked some loose strays of hair under her hood and put her sunglasses back on that must have fallen off during her sleep. “Go right on ahead. Tell the cops that little old me took you out. I would love to see their faces when a muscular guy like you runs to the cops.”

“So, you think I’m muscular?”

Piper rolled her eyes, even though she knew he couldn’t see her reaction. “Wow, they better put down the oxygen masks because your ego is making us lose cabin pressure.”

“Clever.”

Piper just shook her head and watched the crewmen out on the tarmac do their work so she could get off the airplane and away from Mason. Yes, he was extremely attractive, but his personality was less than pleasant. She didn’t really care anyway because this weekend wasn’t about her meeting new people; this was about her best friend and she was going to make sure she kept it that way.

***

Lexi waited outside of security, nervous as hell, because she wasn’t quite sure whether Piper actually made her flight or not. Piper was notorious for being a free-spirit and doing things on her own time, so Lexi wouldn’t put it past her childhood friend to miss her flight. She had done it before.

She couldn’t believe she was getting married tomorrow. It seemed like only yesterday when she first met Jake her senior year in college. Now, two years later, she was about to walk down the aisle and commit herself to the love of her life.

Lexi had not seen Jake in a couple of days, since he was in New York City doing some kind of cologne promotion. Since he was the quarterback for the San Diego Thunder, he had many different deals, sponsorships, and promotions he always had to attend. Luckily, Lexi got to work right along with Jake during the season as the San Diego Thunder’s on-field correspondent, a job she never thought she would actually have. The last two years living with Jake, working near him, but also having a life of her own had been amazing, but now she was ready to settle down and maybe consider starting a family. They’d been talking about having children for a while and now Lexi was thinking she was ready.

Lexi checked the time on her phone and realized that the plane had already arrived and Piper should have been trickling down to baggage claim with the other passengers. Jake told Lexi that Mason was on a flight today as well, but was meeting up with some other guys at the airport so they all could ride together. She wouldn’t be seeing any of the men until the rehearsal dinner, which gave her time to spend with her girls, Piper, Margo and Brooke.

Lexi sighed, thinking about Brooke and Mason. She wasn’t sure if Mason knew about Brooke being in the wedding, since Jake was bad at relaying details. She hoped Mason didn’t throw a fit when he saw her. Lexi thought about taking Brooke out of the wedding since Mason and her broke up, but Brooke was her good friend and she couldn’t do that to her. Mason and Brooke were just going to have to be adults about the whole situation. Plus, it was just a weekend; they could get through a weekend, or so she hoped.

Lexi was just about to go up to the ticketing counter to see if she could find out any information about Piper when she saw a figure that resembled Piper walking toward her. She was wearing gigantic sunglasses and a sweatshirt with the hood over her head, leaving little strands of her annoyingly gorgeous red hair poking out…and she was sporting her ratty jeans and Chuck Taylors. Lexi smiled, some people never change.