Promises, Promises (32 page)

 “What’s the highest amount of money you’ve ever hustled, Izzy?” Flynn asked with an anxious smirk.

Brad’s head lowered as he shook his head and chuckled, Mack started jumping up and down and Mel acted pissed, “
THAT
was the night I missed!”

Mack laughed, “That’s your own fault! You had a date with Mr. Superjock!” I noticed Flynn wince from the corner of my eye, but he regained composure as Mel laughed and shook her head.

Brad shouted, “
That
was the scariest night of my life!”

“Oh please! No, it wasn’t! The biker bar was much worse!” Izzy scoffed.

“No, it wasn’t.” Brad took center stage with the story as he stood there using his hands. “Picture this. Me, Izzy and Mack playing pool at this crappy hole in the wall bar.

These four mafia guys come over, huge guys I need to add, and throw down money. Izzy looks at Mack and me and we start counting our money knowing Izzy could beat them easily.” He shrugged, “We saw them play earlier. So we were short probably about $500 ‘cause we’re college kids and who carries that much money around.”

Mack interjected, “Actually, Izzy did so she could hustle!”

Izzy laughed and rolled her eyes, “Not
THAT
much!”

Brad starts back into the story, “So we call a couple of rich friends we know. Unfortunately, one was from a frat house and he brought a shit load of his buddies with him.”

Mel laughed, “I still don’t understand why that was such a problem! You had back up then!”

Brad dropped his hands to his hips and looked at her like she was crazy. Then he gestured over to Flynn and me. “These guys know. Picture this – me, Mack, about fifteen drunk frat guys, the four huge mafia guys and now
they
started calling some of
their
friends!” he paused for dramatic effect and then got behind Izzy gesturing his hands up and down her body “
and IZZY
!” he said louder, stressing his point.

Yeah, he really proved his point. All of those guys leering at Izzy while she tried to play with a room full of drunk horny guys was making my stomach sick just thinking about it.

“So we gather our money and the game starts.” Brad continues his story.

Izzy interjected, “that guy was good.” She said staring out into space remembering him.

“But not as good as you.” Brad responded. Izzy shrugged her shoulders as if to dismiss his compliment.

“So he breaks and keeps going, FINALLY missing a shot. Izzy’s up.” He shakes his head again, “I have no idea how you could concentrate. Every guy there was quiet and watching Izzy. Not her pool playing. Every guy was whispering about whatever position she was in and how they’d like to be behind her.” Izzy rolled her eyes at Brad. He looked at her like she was crazy. “Seriously, you didn’t hear any of that?” He asked her.

She shrugged. “I heard a couple of comments, but nothing like you’re describing. I thought they were impressed with my pool playing.”

Brad looked over to us, shaking his head, the corner of his mouth turned up looking at us, knowing we’d agree with her being crazy. “Yeah,
NO
. I wanted to forget the game and get you the fuck out of there!”

Mack nodded in agreement.

“Why were you so nervous? We had the frat boys there!” Izzy asked. I could tell she still wasn’t getting it. Again, Brad looked at her like she was crazy. “They were
drunk
frat boys watching my Izzy play!”

‘
My
’? Did he just say ‘my?’ Did no one else hear that? I looked around the room and nope, it was glossed over as he continued the story.

“So anyway, Izzy plays and of course
wins
. The mafia guys…”

Izzy snorted and interrupted him, “They were NOT mafia guys; they were just some big guys!”

“Big and they brought in more friends. Izzy and the guy shake hands and he starts grabbing her ass.”

Izzy interrupted him again, “They were
hugging
me!”

“What the hell kind of hugs do you give that the guy’s hand squeezes your ass when you hug?”

Izzy shrugged, laughing at Brad’s theatrics. “So he got a little grabby!”

“A little
grabby
?” Brad gave this look like she was absolutely insane. “I thought the fucker was going to throw you onto the table.” He looked over to me and Flynn, “Seriously guys, are you with me?”

Flynn and I nodded while Izzy looked over at me shrugging and rolling her eyes, “It wasn’t
that
bad. Brad’s making it sound like the guy was about to nail me.” I cringed hearing her say that, “He
wasn’t
.” she stated emphatically, noticing my reaction.

“Like fuck he wasn’t! So I grabbed the guy’s arm and try to pull him. He starts asking me what my problem was and I’m trying to tell him that he got too grabby. Meanwhile, innocent Izzy over here starts to give the other guys hugs!”

She shrugged again and started giggling, “I was making sure we could walk out of there with our money.”

“What? By letting them all cop a feel?”

“NO! I was just making sure we left on good terms!”

Mack laughed, “Yeah, really good terms. Because then the frat boys all wanted their ‘hugs’ too!” He used air quotes for hugs.

“Do you know what fifteen drunk frat boys have on their brain?” Brad asked Izzy, incredulously.

Izzy rolled her eyes, “Yes, I know. I didn’t hug
them
!” Like that made it any better. I was really not envying Brad and Mack’s job that night. I can’t imagine trying to have to get Izzy out of that place.

“Seriously, Izzy, you were the ONLY girl near the pool tables. They were all drunk. You were bending and shit all night.”

“You make it seem like I was doing all sexy moves or something! I was PLAYING POOL!” she stressed.

Brad shook his head, “Anyway, we started to FINALLY leave,” he stressed ‘finally’ while looking right at Izzy, making it seem like she took her time getting out of there, “and about half the frat boys walked out with us.

“They were making sure the other guys weren’t following us.” Izzy stressed, she had a smirk on her face, so I think she really knew the truth.

“How naïve are you?” He turned to me and Flynn, “She had two guys wrap their arms around her as they walked!”

Izzy interrupted, “I told you they were both in my psych class and I knew them!”

“Yeah well, they wanted to get to know you a
lot
better.” Brad stressed as he took a drink from his beer.

“They would have been fine; you got all weird and over protective.” Izzy said pulling her eye brows together and then she rolled her eyes.

Mack jumped in laughing, “Who Brad? Over protective?” he asked, clearly being facetious.

“They were all over her!” Brad said emphatically.

I couldn’t resist finding out what happened next, because by then I was totally with Brad on this one, although I wasn’t sure if it was because he was being protective or jealous like I would have been. Hell, just hearing the story I was jealous. “So what happened next?”

Izzy walked over and put her hand on Brad’s shoulder, “Brad here decided to make sure the frat boys stayed away. He grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder and stalked over in the other direction towards home.”

Mack started laughing. “You should have seen the guy’s faces, it was as if you took away their candy for the night!”

“Yeah, their eye candy. They were headed back to the frat house and Izzy was walking with them!”

“There was a party going on over there! I wouldn’t have been the only girl there!”

I shook my head, “Man, I do not envy Brad’s job back in college, Izzy.”

Brad looked at me silently saying ‘thanks’ and Izzy asked, “Why? What do you mean?”

“Are you serious? Did you not just hear the same story I heard? Every guy wanted to fucking bend you over that table and Brad and Mack had to get you out of there? Come on, you’re not that naïve!” I was floored that she didn’t think the same way.

“I knew half the frat guys; the mafia guys were all appeased with a hug!” Brad snorted at the hug part as Izzy looked back at him and shrugged. “So I let them cop a feel. It was to make sure we were all on good terms!”

Brad came over and hugged her, “I know. It just wasn’t the right time to let all of them get a feel when they were already so damn horny from watching you play.”

They looked like they were a little too close for my comfort, so I stood up just as Brad’s phone rang. I walked over to her and hugged her tightly, giving her a kiss on her forehead. “You seriously can’t see how that would have been a scary situation for Brad and Mack?”

She shrugged and giggled. “I guess I can see it now. I was just trying to make sure I got my $1,000!”

Then we overheard Brad fighting with his wife. She was clearly jealous of Izzy and we could hear her yelling through the phone. Brad was looking over at Mack just as his phone rang out too. I gave a sigh of relief knowing they were leaving soon. I could feel Izzy tense up whenever she heard the words ‘bitch’ and ‘slut’ through the phone. Clearly she had heard that before.

“Have they always hated you and Mel?” I whispered into her ear. She nodded and frowned. I guess I could kind of understand their dislike for Izzy, especially if he hugged her like that all the time and his eyes gazed at her like they did. I also felt bad for Izzy because I could see how close these two really were. I really wondered if they were ever romantically involved. I’d have to ask that later when my jealousy was more in control so I wouldn’t sound so accusatory.

We heard Brad hang up, and shortly after, Mack did too. They looked over at us, “Well, we need to get going. It was fun going over old times! We’ll have to do it again sometime.” Brad said clapping his hands together.

“Well, maybe we can all get together for dinner some night and they can come too.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. You know that.”

“It’s been several years, Brad. And I have a boyfriend now. She shouldn’t still feel threatened. We could try. I really miss seeing you guys.” She pouted and I could tell she really did mean that. Brad looked like he was going to bend down and kiss her; he was staring at her and thinking. He shook his head quickly and then turned to Mack.

“Ready?” Mack nodded his head and everyone started giving each other hugs and handshakes.

When it was Izzy and Brad’s turn to hug, I watched closely as he held her tightly and I swear he sniffed her hair again, not to mention I watched her nuzzle into his neck. I was trying really hard to contain my jealousy. He was on his way out the door, so it was almost over, right? He pulled back and I watched his face as he started to lean down and they both did this weird thing where they looked like they were about to kiss, but missed and he kissed her cheek instead. I saw a flash of disappointment go through Izzy’s eyes. Yep, that sealed it for me. From now on, these two were never to be in a room alone together. No wonder why his wife hated Izzy so much. It was pretty clear to me these two had something before.

Brad and Mack finally left and we all headed to their place. Izzy was in a great mood, well, a little sad that they left, but still in a happy mood. Izzy and Mel were discussing trying to have them over for dinner with their wives so they could see Brad and Mack again. I was just glad it was something that would probably always be an issue. I wanted to ask her true feelings for Brad, but knew that would probably ruin our evening and start a fight, so I refrained.

Of course that wasn’t the end of my jealousy. I knew I’d always have it, but I kept trying to contain it, especially on her runs. Since that was just about the only time we were apart from each other, that’s when my mind usually tended to wander about her possibly being unfaithful to me.

I followed her several different times on her runs just to see if she was meeting Mark and if they were going to kiss. I tried to trust Izzy, but after all the fucked up shit I’ve been through with my exes, I had a hard time not feeling like she would cheat on me. But through it all, Izzy was patient with me and my twenty questions after her runs. I think she even knew I watched her a couple times.

I felt like I got to the point where I knew she wasn’t cheating on me; anyone who would make an advance towards her, she pushed away. I know this because Mark leaned in for a kiss once – I was pretty close to running across the street and beat the fucking shit out of him again. I still might kick his ass just for fun.

Since I knew exactly which place she ran from, I parked my bike in a nearby space and leaned on it just waiting for her to return from her run. I watched her slowdown from her jog and walked with Mark. My blood was boiling watching them so close together, but I tried to remain calm. For Izzy. She was saying goodbye to him and he leaned in; she backed up and shook her head and said something to him. Then she turned to walk away shaking her head. She seemed pissed. She looked up and I watched her eyes light up when our eyes met and a smile to match it. My heart leapt out of my chest. Just that loving sweet look she had for me was more than I could take. I smiled back as she came bounding up to me and practically tackled me. She jumped into my arms wrapping her legs around me. Fuck. It was all I could do not to take her on my bike.

She smiled and kissed me fiercely. “What are you doing here? I thought you were at the gym punching Daryl,” she teased.

I kissed her roughly. I didn’t look, but I was hoping Mark was watching me claim her. She was mine and only mine.

“I wanted to see you, that’s all.” I stated.

She smirked. “But you just saw me earlier this morning, silly!” She knew, I’m sure of it, that I was really just checking up on her.

“I decided we should get away for the night.” I didn’t really have a place in mind; I just thought I needed a reason to be here at the park waiting for her. She smiled so bright and it reached her gorgeous eyes. “Really? Where to now? You’re spoiling me and I love it.” She said laughing and hugged me tight.

I turned to get on my bike and she hopped on the back. She wrapped her arms, like always, tight across my stomach. That was one of the best feelings in the world to me. Her head laying against my back and I could feel her smile. I started up my bike and we headed to the townhouse. We got in and she told me she was going to shower quickly and pack a few things for the night. She said that winking. I assumed that meant she would pack a cute little outfit that wouldn’t last long on her gorgeous little body. I appreciate the lingerie, but it just winds up on the floor after a few minutes.