Next morning Laura woke up with a profound bad conscious tapping her on her shoulder. She rubbed her jaw and sighed deeply. How could she have done what she did to Cody?
With shaky legs she sat herself up on the side of the bed and looked straight out into nothingness. My god. . .what had she done?
The last thing she remembered was giving Neal a chaste kiss on the cheek and agreeing to go on a date with him, and the look she received from Cody as she had done that, was pure hostile. He looked mad as hell.
Laura shivered slightly.
She stood up and walked out into the kitchen. Every muscle in her body protested. It was like there was total anarchy in her body. Everything felt wrong to her. . .every move.
Taking a new deep breath, she tried to defy the strong emotions within her. Why in the world was she feeling his way?
Cody was a kid. Wasn't he? Just a boy?
Grabbing a spoon to fill her cup with coffee powder, she shook her head.
No fuckin' way! He wasn't a kid.
She had experienced that more than once by now, thank you very much. . . his skills in bed and the size of his power tool, making her wish for nothing more. Cody was definitely not a kid nor just a boy, he was a fully grown man.
Wonderful tingles traveled through her body as she thought of him. It was ages since anybody made her feel like he did.
Shit. . as she thought about it, not even Lance's and Phil's father had made her feel like Cody made her feel.
Damn him and his skills in bed.
She sat herself down by the kitchen table with her coffee-cup in hand, and she clenched her jaw tight.
She despised herself for being so lame. And for feeling the way she did.
There was no way in hell, that what she and Cody had would ever be accepted.
She just knew it. Hell, she would be an outcast the moment the shit would hit the fan.
She could not let this go on.
But god, she wanted it to. And she wanted it badly.
~ ~ ~
Stepping out from the shower, Cody took a long hard look at himself in the huge bathroom mirror.
Small drops of water trickling down his taut and perfect sculpted body, his hair perfect even though it looked all wet and tousled.
He wasn't used to be rejected. Darn it.
He was used to get whatever AND whoever the fuck he wanted.
He snorted at his reflection in the mirror. Had he lost his touch? Nooo...
But never the less, this new experience made him feel sick to his stomach. And that awful new sensation he felt within his chest, he could definitely be without. It hurt like hell.
Drying himself thoroughly with a towel, he then stomped out, exiting the bathroom. The amount of pain he was feeling inside was suffocating him, cutting of his air, and it was making him furious enough to want to seriously inflict the same level of pain onto somebody else. Anyone. He did not care who. . . just someone.
He knew what she was doing. In fact he knew it all but too well. It was that bloody issue she had about being much older than him.
God how he hated that.
And of course that small inconvenience of her being the mother of his two best friends. Gah!
With a low grunt, he entered the bedroom and sat himself down on the bed. The very same bed that he'd made love to her on, not too long ago.
Closing his eyes he thought back and remembered their awesome moment, their awesome night together. He remembered her warmth, her soft lips and her curvaceous body. The rapture he'd felt when finally claiming her, as he had entered her warm heaven, over and over again, was something he'd never felt before.
Why was she doing this? He asked himself for the umpteenth time when getting dressed.
He knew why. . . He just could not wrap his head around it. Damn that beautiful woman. She was pushing him away, just because of that stupid age-thing.
Rubbing his palms over his eyes, he made a low growling noise deep down in his throat.
Well, okay. . .he would survive, right?
Of course he would. He was Cody Warner. Player. Stud. Prince Charming. You name it. . .
If this was the way she wanted it to be, by God she was going to get it.
~~ ~~ ~~
Next evening Laura stood in front of her mirror, not at all liking what she saw. Even though she'd done her best with her hair and she had chosen the nicest clothes, she saw nothing but a hag in front of her. Well, she felt like one anyhow. She felt lousy.
The whole day she'd walked around in the house feeling bad, her inside aching like never before. It was a scary and unfamiliar ache, one that she could not pin point the origin from. And to be honest. . that was the most scary thing of all.
Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself for the event of the evening, the get together at Kay and Donna's house. During the day, Neal had been calling her about a hundred times just to make sure he'd pick her up at the right time. Not too early, not too late.
She rolled her eyes exasperated.
He was a darn good looking man. . . But he was no Cody Warner. Of that she was painfully aware.
The moment she reached for her house keys, she heard a car pull up on the driveway outside the house.
Neal was here.
Taking a deep breath, she searched the depth within herself for some strength to endure this evening, then she took her jacket and walked out to him.
~ ~ ~
After a whole days work down at the 'Brady garage and motor parts', Cody was meeting Lance and Phil down at the Pint to take a beer or two and just relax.
Almost instantly as he stepped into the bar with both of his friends in tow, his eyes landed on a busty and cute brunette by the counter.
He recognized her.
He had seen her before in the company of Marla's friends, so she wasn't all that unknown to him.
In fact, he knew that she at one time had a crush on him. But that had been over a year ago.
He rubbed his jaw in pondering as his eyes gave her a sweeping once over.
Looked like shapely breasts to him. Her pink lush lips was sipping on a glass of beer, almost tempting him. Kissable? Oh certainly yes!
Too bad though that her hair was short.
He liked long haired brunettes.
Maybe he should give it a try. See if the crush on him was still current.
His tongue traced his lower lip as he checked her out.
Then from out of nowhere, the vision of Laura decided to crash his thoughts and he pursed his lips hard in frustration.
Now, why the hell did that image have to pop up in his head now? Couldn't he just be allowed to eye another woman when he wanted to? He'd done it thousands of times before without any interruptions. Breathing hard through his nose, his eyelids fluttered for a brief second.
Laura had set the rules, HER rules. She just couldn't come here barging in and stop him from hitting on whoever he wanted to. Even if she was just a thought in his head.
Calming himself down, he determinedly pushed the thoughts of her to the side.
But doing that was easier said than done.
Cody rolled his eyes with resignation. Stop thinking about her, you sap! She obviously wants you to suffer. Get a grip!
Taking a huge and deep breath of air he moved on inside and followed Lance and Phil over to the bar. Thankfully both of them had refrained to ask him about his sudden departure last night, so the tension he had imagined to be there, wasn't there at all. He sighed with relief.
They all got seated on the bar stools and they all ordered beers, Cody seated next to the brunette, but with his back against her.
"How was work today Cody?" Phil wondered. He hoped that maybe old man Brady would go more easy on Cody now, as he and Marla was dating.
"Same shit as always," Cody muttered, "Not even a decent car to tinker with." Today's work had been even more than indecent dull. So much in fact that Cody had actually considered taking his own bike there to give it a thorough check up.
Phil raised his brows , then he took a sip from his beer.
"I was more referring to your grumpy boss. . "he then said with a touch of irony, his eyes roaming the premises.
Cody rolled his eyes. "Oh, that old goat" with a small move, he started his aim to move around in his seat to get face to face with the brunette, "He was out of town today. Business trip he calls it."
"Calls it?" Lance was all of a sudden a little curious.
Cody couldn't stop his sly grin.
"You know what I mean."
Both Lance and Phil raised their brows a little surprised. Was Cody really telling them what they thought he was telling them?
"No, I'm afraid to. Are you sure?" Phil whispered over the buzz and the music in the bar.
Cody nodded his head. He was almost turned around the whole way now, the brunette coming into view.
"Yeah, I am. But don't tell Marla, it would destroy her.."
"I won't." Phil replied instantly, his mouth agape. Talk about dropping bombs.
Finally Cody was in position. He leant casually with his elbow on the counter and turned his head towards the girl. Surprised he found that she was looking straight at him.
Cody became slightly startled, but did not show any sign of it. Instead he gave her a lazy grin.
"Hi there."
The girl blushed crimson and turned her gaze down. "Hi. . ." she replied, her fingers playing on her glass.
Instantly Cody knew that this was going to be almost too easy. Too easy to even be fun.
"I'm Cody" he said and tried to make her look up again. He was successful. "I'm the Beast" he made a pause, "And the Beauty are. . ?"
The girl looked at him astounded, then a small smile crept over her lips.
"I'm Karen. . . but I'm not a . . " she giggled silently, the intense gaze from the handsome guy making her blush once again.
"Hi Karen, " he interrupted her and reached for her hand, encircling it, aiming for the kill right away," So. . Are you here alone? Or do I have to bust some heads to take you home?"
Lance and Phil stared at each other in surprise.
What about that special someone? Was that done and over with already?
Oh well, they both shrugged their shoulders. That's Cody Warner in a nutshell.