Eve Vaughn, Romance Author

Free Story

Disclaimer: This story is intended for those 18 years and older.

Getting Over Austin

Chapter One

So this is what it felt like when your heart shattered to a million pieces, as if it had literally exploded within your chest and you’d die any minute. And all awhile the cause of said heartbreak stuffed his face like he didn’t have a single care in the world. He probably didn’t, after all it’s what he did. Austin Werner had been using her heart as a punching bag since they were in high school and doing it with a smile on his face. But there was only so much a girl could take before she wised up and realized her unrequited love would never be reciprocated.

Nearly a month ago, a ray of hope had shone through the abysmal prospect of his ever returning her feelings the way she wanted him too. It had been a night of bad B movies and lots of tequila to celebrate his liberation from his latest booty call. That night he’d looked at her just as she dreamed he would in so many of her fantasies.

Freddie wasn’t sure if it had been the alcohol or maybe the stars were aligned just right but when he’d leaned over and kissed her on the neck, she didn’t stop him. She didn’t want to. That little kiss became tiny nibbles on her flesh, his lips moving along her skin with the expert precision of someone who knew exactly what he was doing.

He was her best friend and confidant. One of them should have had the willpower to pull away and stop this thing before it had gotten out of control. Neither one of them did. She didn’t know what was going through his mind, what had made him do it when he’d given no indication that he viewed her as anything other than a best bud. She should have been the rational one and push him away but instead she’d given in to his touch, to his kiss, to him.

Even when Austin had plucked her t-shirt over her head and sucked on her nipples until she came Freddie didn’t halt him. She’d wanted it so badly she ended up doing things to him and with him she’d previously only seen in movies. They didn’t bother getting off the floor both of them disrobing each other with frantic movements, eager to feel naked flesh on flesh. Austin barely had a chance to slip on a condom before sliding into her like a man possessed. She couldn’t call what they did making love or even sex. It had been fucking, pure and simple.

After two more fuck sessions, one in the shower and one in her bed they’d cuddled. It was then with Austin spooned against her back did she find the courage to confess the secret she’d been holding in for so long.

“Austin?” she’d whispered to see if he was still awake. She was too keyed up to fall asleep.

“Umm?” His answer was an unintelligible grunt.

“I—I’m not sorry this happened.”

Did she imagine it or had he stiffened against her? When there was no answer she continued.

“I think we have a lot of chemistry as demonstrated early—and I don’t just mean the physical. We’ve been friends for years so maybe….maybe this is a sign that we were meant to be more.” Even though she wanted to tell him she loved him, she couldn’t quite bring herself to say the words unless she knew they stood a chance.

There was still no answer.

Freddie frowned. She shook his shoulder. “Austin?”

She was finally answered with a loud unapologetic snore. Left with no choice but to get some sleep, she turned over and didn’t actually pass out until dawn. When she woke up he was gone without so much as a note, leaving her to wonder what the hell happened. What she thought they shared was magic but apparently he didn’t feel the same and what was worse, he’d been avoiding her since.

The final blow was today when he’d finally agreed to meet her for breakfast and he claimed not to have remembered anything she’d said that night. She wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. It became a test of her will to hold back the tears that threatened to spill.

Austin looked up from his plate of pancakes, that cocky half grin, tilting his lips. God he was gorgeous, and he knew it. The bastard. Six foot four, with a swimmers build, he was all muscles and hard planes. Spiky blond hair capped sculpted face of perfect masculine angles. He had startling long-lashed blue eyes and a smile that made her world tilt on its axis. She hated that smile right now. “You’re not eating. Your appetite is usually as big as mine. It’s one of the things I like about you.”

Freddie attempted to smile but failed miserably. “Guess my eyes were bigger than my belly.”

He eyed her waffles and bacon. “So you’re not going to finish it?”

She shook her head pushing her plate toward him which he picked up and emptied on to his. Unable to take another minute of skirting around the issue, she drove right in. “Why have you been avoiding me these past few weeks Austin? You haven’t returned any of my calls and on the off chance that I did catch you, you give me an excuse why we couldn’t meet up.”

He shrugged. “You know I’ve been working on a multi-million dollar campaign proposal. If I land this account I’ll get that promotion I wanted and a title.”

Freddie bit the inside of her lip to hold back the angry retort on the tip of her tongue. It seemed lately the only thing Austin cared about was his job, and that included her and their friendship. “And it had nothing to do with what I told you when we were last together?”

He paused, his eyes narrowing briefly. “I already told you, I was so drunk that night you could have told me your apartment building was on fire and I wouldn’t have known the difference. Was it something important?”

His words cut her so deep she momentarily lost the ability to breathe. What she’d considered the most memorable night of her life had simply been a drunken tumble to him. He could have kicked her teeth in and it would have been less painful.

“We had sex, lots of it. Don’t you remember that, Austin?”

He finally made eye contact with her as he released a heavy sigh. “Yes, I remember and it was pretty good if I recall. That’s another thing I like about you. We’ve been best friends for over fifteen years now and even when we do stupid things like we did that night, it doesn’t affect our friendship.”

“You….you thought it was stupid?”

“Of course. You and I would never work, at least not in a romantic way. I’m not capable of monogamy and you’re too practical to believe in something so lame as love. We used to laugh about it remember? Anyway, I met this really hot redhead last week. She’s an aerobics instructor and she claims to be double jointed. I think Miss Tina might be worth trying out. Or was her name Tanya. It doesn’t matter.” He laughed casually before stuffing his mouth with her uneaten waffles.

She was numb. Couldn’t move, or respond even if someone had stuck a thousand needles in her skin. Had Austin always been such a jackass? Before she’d had a few seconds to think about it, Freddie knew the answer was yes. Sure she’s seem him break hearts since they were fourteen years old, but those were just nameless girls who didn’t mean a thing. She always believed after he got tired of screwing around he’d come to realize what he needed was someone who would love him as she believed he deserved. Someone loyal. Someone who would stand by his side through the good times as well as bad. Her.

Why had she held on to Grandma Flora’s prophecy that she and Austin would one day end up together? Her grandmother had always had a knack for matchmaking. Just about everyone she said would end up together eventually did. Of course Grandma Flora had been suffering through the first stage of dementia when she’d made that prediction about Freddie and Austin, so it was probably the ramblings of an old lady who’d wanted to make her granddaughter happy. There was absolutely no hope. Austin Werner would never change—at least not for her.

Knowing if she stayed she’d burst out in tears. She glanced at her watch. “Oh, look at the time. I have a doctor’s appointment.”

Austin frowned. “On a Sunday?”

“Yeah. Pretty amazing when you think about it. Doctors will barely schedule you on a weekday let alone a Sunday. It’s an emergency actually which is why he’s seeing me.” Freddie hoped he didn’t see through her big fat lie.

He frowned. “Is everything okay?”

“Sure, just some lower back issues. I think I may have pulled something when I played tennis a few days ago.” She grabbed her purse and pulled it out her wallet.

He held up his hand. “Don’t worry. I got this.”

She put her wallet away not bothering to argue. The longer she delayed the greater the chance she’d end up making a fool of herself. “Well, okay. I’ll see you around I guess.”

“I’ll call you okay?”

“Sure. Let me know how your date went with what’s her name.”

He grinned, seeming a lot less tense than he had been at the beginning of their breakfast. Maybe he thought she’d cause a scene. It probably would have served him right but she wasn’t the type of woman who cried hysterically in the middle of a restaurant full of people. It briefly crossed her mind to wonder if he’d brought her here on purpose. Not that it mattered, she’d gotten the message loud and clear.

Mr. Can’t-Keep-It-In-His-Pants wasn’t interested in her. She was officially a notch on his belt—one he was too drunk to remember.

She gave him a quick wave before getting the hell out of the restaurant, tears blinding her. When she got in the car, she slammed her palms against the steering wheel. “Damn! Shit! Fuck!” she screamed her frustration. Now what the hell was she going to do? Especially since her period was late.

*    *    *

Austin watched as Freddie hurried out of the restaurant. He’d hurt her and he felt like a total ass for doing it but it was for the best. One day she’d thank him for it. He could kick himself for what happened, but she’d smelled so good, felt so good in his arms. When he’d tasted that sweet chocolate skin, one taste hadn’t been enough. Yeah he blamed it on the alcohol but he’d been intoxicated by her.

He always thought Freddie was cute but she was the one female he felt no pressure to be around. She was like one of the guys, someone he could watch sports with, go out to the bars and give him some perspective into the female mind. With her he’d had the best of both worlds. The last thing he’d wanted was to screw up the one stable relationship in his life. But for some reason that night he couldn’t keep his damn hands to himself.

He’d lied to her, the sex wasn’t just good. It was explosive. Shit, it was probably the best pussy he’d ever had. Too bad said pussy was attached to the one woman he’d declared to be off limits. If Austin was being fair, he’d sever the friendship altogether but he’d missed her too much. He’d give her time to get over him. She was resilient like that. Freddie was one of the toughest females he knew. That’s it he’d give her some distance until this thing blew over and then things would go back to normal. She’d be over him and he could stop waking up in the middle of the night after dreaming about their wild encounter with his cock so hard it hurt.

He pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through the address list. Now…about that hot redhead. Hopefully she would help banish those forbidden carnal thoughts. A smile curved his lips as he remembered the perky aerobics instructor. How far would he be able to bend her legs behind her head?

*     *    *

Somehow she’d managed to drive to drug store to purchase a pregnancy kit and get home without incident which was no small feat. Tear clouded her eyes the entire way to her apartment complex. Today sucked more than anything that had ever sucked before. She should have known better. And because of that one time in the shower without a condom her whole life was going to change one way or another.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

To be fair, other than the womanizing, Austin was a pretty cool guy and a good friend. They’d bonded when she wanted to try out for the boy’s basketball team in school because there hadn’t been a girl’s team. He’d been the only one to stand up for her. He was there for her whenever she’d had an important event. They had so much in common, their love of making fun of terrible movies, sports, classic rock and old school rap and their love of the nostalgic. The only problem was, while she viewed him as the other half of her whole, he saw her as just a friend. It wasn’t that she put that much effort in attracting his attention because she didn’t want to be one of those girls who threw themselves at Austin Werner. She didn’t want to be just another convenient piece of ass to him. But that’s exactly what she’d become and she hated herself for it and hated him for not giving a shit.

There had even been times when she did try to date other guys but whenever she did, it seemed to annoy him, something that gave her hope. Freddie thought maybe he did care if he got jealous when she was with other men, but now she realized how very dog in the manger he’d been. He didn’t want her but he didn’t want anyone else to have her either. Who else would be his sounding board and his beer buddy without expecting more for him?

Freddie knew she would never be a knockout but she was reasonably attractive. She was taller than most guys preferred and athletically built but she wasn’t totally ugly. In fact she’d been told she was cute on more than a few occasions. But cute obviously wasn’t good enough for Austin. She used to think it was because she was black but then he’d dated women of all spectrums of the rainbow. So it brought her to the conclusion that it was just something about her.

At the thought of him and his redhead, she burst into a fit of noisy tears as she made her way upstairs to her third floor apartment. All she wanted to do today was curl up into a ball and die.

So caught up in feeling sorry for herself, Freddie ran into something big and solid causing her to drop her shopping bag.

Large hands gripped her forearms. “Are you okay?” A deep baritone penetrated through her haze of grief.

With a sniff, she hastily wiped her tears away. Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded.

“You don’t look okay. Here let me help you with your things.” He bent down to pick up her bag. Thankfully the pregnancy kit stayed hidden in the bag. The last thing she needed was for this stranger to think she was a total slut.

He hand her the bag and then out of nowhere he produced a handkerchief. “Here you go.”

She took it and dabbed the corners of her eyes. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure. I hate seeing beautiful women cry.”

Freddie dried her eyes and then attempted to hand him his handkerchief back but he gently pushed her hand away. “You keep it. I have dozens. Probably a habit I picked up from my very British father.”

She had detected a slight accent but it was so light it barely registered unless you were really listening for it. “Thank you, again.”

“Do you like in 3A?”

She nodded not really in the mood for casual conversation.

“I thought I saw you leaving out earlier, I’m Daniel.” He held out his hand which she had no choice to take unless she wanted to come off as rude. “I moved in next door last week, 3B. I really lucked out in getting a gorgeous neighbor.”

Was this guy for real? Her eyes were probably bloodshot red and her face flushed, yet he thought she was beautiful? She gave him a really good look for the first time and froze. Damn. How in the world had she not noticed him? He topped her own five foot eleven frame by a few inches. Daniel was clearly of Asian decent mixed with something else, white maybe? His smile lit his entire face giving him a boyish appeal. He was definitely the type of hard bodied hottie she and her friends would drool over at the beach. Too bad she hated men at the moment.

“It was nice meeting you, Daniel, but I have to go.”

He nodded with apparent understanding. “Sure. Maybe we can get together for coffee sometime.”

Freddie shrugged not committing to anything. He was probably just being nice. Hadn’t Austin already showed her not to get her hopes up in the relationship department? Daniel seemed nice but he’d probably be with a cute blond by the end of the week.

 

A half hour later in her apartment she stared at the two identical strips on the pregnancy strip. She’d done it twice with the same result. Fuck!

Getting over Austin was going to be harder than she thought.

 

To be continued at… https://www.facebook.com/groups/evevaughnsbooks/
The story can be found in the file section of Eve’s Facebook Group.