weekend with brunter (brady + hunter).

Did everyone else assume Brady’s brother was going to be gangly and awkward with huge glasses and weird hair? I sure did.

On Friday evening, Brady was going to dinner with his brother, Hunter, but afterward we were all going out. I went to Kendra’s to hang out for a few hours, but also search her closet because I lost a pair of boots and I knew she stole them. I actually haven’t been to Kendra’s much since John moved in because all of his shit has taken over her little apartment. When Kendra first moved in, I helped her decorate and pick out furniture so she had the most adorable, Victorian inspired Old Town apartment. Now John’s freaking bike is in the living room and the place smells like oatmeal. I grabbed my boots (knew it) and got the hell out of there.

I packed an overnight bag and headed to Brady’s to get ready and to pregame. Imagine my surprise when Brady led me to the kitchen to meet his brother and a giant was standing there drinking a beer.

“Reese, this is Hunter,” Brady said introducing us.

His brother stuck out his paw for me to shake and said, “Nice to finally meet you, Reese. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

He just looked like his name was Hunter. Y’all are going to crucify me for saying this, but he is very, very good looking. He was at least 6’3 (probably taller) with a coarse, but maintained beard and his hair in a low man-bun type thing. He reminds me of Thor, but much more granola, like he wears Birkenstocks and lives in a camper. I shook his hand, which was easily three times larger than mine, and he gave me a knowing kind of smirk. Probably because he’s fully aware that I lied about being pregnant and made a fool of myself in front of their parents. Suddenly I felt really self-conscious.

“Hi,” I squeaked.

“Do you like whiskey?” Hunter asked.

“Um, it’s okay,” I replied. I like all alcohol (obvi), but whiskey definitely isn’t my go-to.

“I was telling Brady, I have this whiskey from the 19th century. It’s insane. It’s not even legal to own anymore,” he explained and a fifth of dark, dark whiskey materialized in his hand.

“How did you even get it on the plane?” I asked.

He glanced at me and smiled slyly before pouring three glasses.

“To a good night?” Hunter cheersed looking from Brady to me.

We were drinking the whiskey straight with no ice or anything and it burned. It had a licoricey flavor and it was really strong. I felt dizzy after only one sip. Whoa. Had to go easy on that stuff.

I took my drink to Brady’s room to get ready. I decided to wear jeans, a Derek Lam tank and booties with my hair down. After one glass of that old ass whiskey, I was already pretty turnt and dancing around the duplex.

We took a cab to the bar and met Carly and Chris there. Apparently I was the only one who was affected by Hunter’s tainted alcohol and I skipped to the bar to order us shots (jaeger bombs obviously). Even though I was being a little crazy, Brady didn’t ask me to calm down. Probably should have though.

The night started to get kinda blurry, but I remember talking a lot. I was standing at the bar with Brady telling him about the time I was so scared in a haunted house that I asked them to just kill me, when my mother called me. It’s like she has some sort of radar that lets her know when I’m belligerently drunk. I declined her call and she immediately called back.

“My mom’s blowing up my phone, she’s so fucking weird,” I told Brady.

“Perhaps it’s something important,” he said.

Just when he said that my mom texted me, “Call me babe. It’s important.”

Naturally I thought the worst like my dad was in a car accident or one of my grandparents was dead. I told Brady I was going to call her back and pushed my way outside to the fresh air. To my surprise, Hunter was standing at the curb next to a food cart.

“What’s up?” he greeted me.

I waved and dialed my mom back.

“Hey love,” she answered. “I have your Tory Burch wedges here. Do you mind if I borrow them tonight? I’m going to Flying Saucer with the girls.”

“Seriously, Mom? That’s what was so important?” I practically yelled. “I don’t even wear Tory Burch anymore!”

“So you don’t mind?”

I was so irritated at her for making me panic and think something was wrong at home. Plus she borrows my things without asking all the time so I don’t know why she was suddenly acting like she needs permission.

“Bye Mom! Love you,” I said and hung up.

“My mom is nuts,” I said to Hunter, just in case he was wondering. “What are you doing out here?”

“Aren’t I allowed to enjoy this beautiful weather?”

This was sarcasm because it was really chilly and windy as hell. We started talking about how he lives in San Francisco which has nice weather, but not nearly as nice as like SoCal. We somehow got to talking about Brady and me and I bravely asked what Brady has told him about me. I was preparing for the worst (I caused drama, I was an alcoholic, I corrupted him), but to my surprise Hunter said, “He told me that he’s in love with you.”

I was not expecting him to say that at all and I probably looked like I swallowed a goldfish.

“I know, I was surprised too,” Hunter said. “He’s so private about that kind of stuff. I only knew about the last girl he dated because my parents told me.”

The last girl he dated. Anna or whoever?

“I think he was just a little bit freaked out,” he continued.

Hunter’s confession actually freaked me out. I know Brady and I have said that when we’re high, but I didn’t think he really felt that way. Even though I was drunk, I got embarrassed and felt weird that Hunter told me that. If Brady wanted me to know, he would express it – sober.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” I asked Hunter to take the attention off me.

He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one.

“There’s a girl. Dom – Dominique. She’s the love of my life,” Hunter said. “I haven’t told anyone about her though.”

“Why haven’t you told anyone?” I wanted to know.

“I don’t want to give my family the chance to disapprove of her. We’re going to elope.” Hunter offered the cigarette to me and I took it.

“Why would anyone disapprove?” I asked.

“Why wouldn’t they? Generally speaking, my parents just…suck.”

I nodded, taking a drag. I don’t know them well, but I could see how his parents would disapprove of his whole San Francisco life. But from what Brady told me, I assumed he and their mom were close. “When are you getting married?”

“Soon. Don’t tell Brady.”

I told him that his secret is safe with me. We passed the cig back and forth a few times until it was gone. I knew Brady was probably looking for me so I left Hunter out there and went back inside. I found Brady exactly where I’d left him by the bar. I threw my arms around and kissed him because 1. I was drunk and 2. We are in love!

“Is everything okay with your mom?” he asked.

“Yeah, she’s just annoying,” I said dismissively.

Brady said that I smelled like smoke and I quickly (probably too quickly) told him that a guy next to me outside was smoking. Which isn’t a lie. We hung out and drank for a little while longer before getting food from a food truck (barf) and cabbing home.

I woke up on Saturday morning and made everyone hot chocolate with Baileys because it was freezing. Brady and Hunter were sitting at the dining room table talking and at first I just sat there browsing Instagram until I heard them say something about Ebola being in the United States.

“Wait, what’s Ebola?” I asked. I’d heard people talking about it in passing, but I thought it only affected people in Africa or whatever.

“It’s a deadly virus that is spread through bodily fluids. Your kidneys and liver shut down and you bleed from every orifice in your body,” Brady said. “A man recently traveled to Liberia and contracted it.”

“He lied about being in contact with anyone with Ebola and brought it back with him. Now he’s being quarantined, but they didn’t diagnose him at first. They gave him antibiotics and sent him home,” Hunter added.

“Imagine how many hundreds of people he could’ve infected within that time. They’re also trying to hunt down everyone who was on the plane with him and contain them.”

“They decontaminated his apartment and sent his family to a confidential location, but he could have spread it to them already.”

“It could be all over the country by now.”

I was horrified. They laughed and said they were kidding and the media is probably making it sound much worse than it actually is, but I spent the next few hours cleaning Brady’s condo
and staying holed up in his room because you just never fucking know. Eventually they said they were going to go eat at one of my favorite restaurants so I couldn’t say no.

I used almost all of my purse sized bottle of Purell. Then I started thinking that the cooks or our waiter could have contacted someone with Ebola and they could have it and could’ve contaminated our food. I told Brady and Hunter and they laughed and kept eating, but my appetite was gone. It was really unfortunate too because my bacon cheeseburger was bomb AF.

When we got home, Chris was home and they all went downstairs to smoke. After my tiring day of trying not to catch Ebola, I needed to take the edge off so I joined them. I only choked once and when we were done, we sat on the couch for a really long time. They were talking about football or sports or something while I sat there mesmerized by the fact that my nude painted nails matched the wall almost perfectly. What are the chances?

We decided to go to the bar and all got up to get ready. While Brady and I were getting dressed, Hunter showered in the attached bathroom. We were basically done getting ready so while we waited for Hunter to shower we started making out and fooling around. Naturally, we ended up having sex, but without taking any of our clothes off. Every time I would moan or make any noise Brady would shush me so Hunter wouldn’t hear even though the shower was on. I doubt he would’ve heard anything.

The four of us walked to a nearby bar and started with shots and beer. I felt like one of the guys.

Once when Brady went to get more drinks, Hunter leaned over to me and said, “You’re not what I expected at all. You’re super chill.”

“What were you expecting?” I asked.

He looked over his shoulder like he was making sure Brady wasn’t coming back yet. “A snob. No offense.”

I’ve actually been called a snob (so 90’s right?) plenty of times in my life so it felt nice to hear that someone didn’t think I was one.

When we got home, Brady and I got in bed. I wasn’t really drunk and the weed seemed to have worn off, but I was still feeling bold.

“Do you love me?” I asked.

“Mmmhm,” he murmured, pulling me close.

I pushed him away so I could look at his face. “Seriously?”

His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. “What?”

“Have you ever been in love? Do you even know what it feels like?”

“Why are you asking me this?”

“I just want to know!”

“Yes, I know what love feels like,” Brady sighed like he was so annoyed with me.

“How?” I demanded.

“What do you mean how?” he asked.

“Who have you ever been in love with?”

“A girl a few years ago-”

I didn’t even let him finish before saying, “How do you know you loved her?”

“Because I knew. She did a lot for me.”

I hated hearing about other girls Brady’s been with so even though I was dying to know who this girl was (Anna? Someone else?) I decided not to pry anymore.

We fell asleep and then something really weird happened in the middle of the night. I legitimately can’t tell if this was a dream or if this really happened, but I’ll tell it like it really happened.

I woke up in the middle of the night because I heard someone in the bathroom. I assumed it was Brady at first, but then I felt him sleeping next to me. I heard the toilet flush and watched the door open. Hunter was standing there, completely naked with his hair down and his dick just swinging. He saw me and smirked then turned off the bathroom light and walked out. So fucking weird/realistic.

But on Sunday morning we all had breakfast and Hunter didn’t blush or act weird (I personally felt really embarrassed) so now I’m thinking I must have dreamed the whole thing. Plus, why would Hunter be walking around Brady and Chris’s place naked like he owns the place? It can’t have really happened. Which begs the question of ew, why would I have that kind of dream?

i’m pregnant.

On Monday, I was actually busy at work. Dave and Diana are going on a business trip next Monday through Wednesday and someone is going to have to run the office. So Diana forwarded me the how-to manual on the office operations and I took some time to read through it. After a few hours I started feeling like my eyes were crossing from reading so much. I pulled out my phone to check Pinterest, SnapChat, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Mark had texted me a listing for a condo he thought I would love and asked if I wanted to see it soon. It was a gorgeous updated high rise, but it was a studio and I have way too much shit for a studio. I told him to keep looking.

I logged onto Facebook and the first thing that came up on my newsfeed was a location check-in from Jessica.

“Lunch with my favorite people,” she said and tagged three people including Brady. I almost dropped my phone.

It was from five minutes prior so I knew they were probably still eating. I couldn’t believe it. Brady assured me that he was no longer speaking to her. Why were they going on lunch dates together? Clearly, he lied and they probably never stopped talking or hanging out. Before I could stop myself, I dialed Brady’s number on my office phone. I had to get to the bottom of this ASAP.

He didn’t answer and I assumed it was because he didn’t recognize the number. I called him again from my cell phone and it went to voicemail after only two rings. RUDE. He obviously ignored my phone call on purpose. What if it was an emergency? I could be dying! I felt my body shaking with anger.

I texted him, “I’m pregnant.” and sat my phone down to continue working. I giggled when he called back three minutes later (which is actually a long time to wait to check in on your unborn child’s mother).

I obviously didn’t answer and instead texted, “Can’t talk, I’m super busy right now.”

“You’re pregnant?” Brady asked immediately.

“Yes,” was all I said back. I felt kind of evil for lying to him, but I would tell him the truth after I got some answers about Jessica. He needed to be punished.

“Can you please step out or something so we can talk?” Brady asked.

Before I could tell him no, my office phone rang and Diana asked me to meet her in Dave’s office so we could go over some things. They spent an hour going over the troubleshooting guide just in case anything crazy happens while they are gone. I mean I get it, they want to be prepared, but I’ve run the office plenty of times while they both were out. Things will be fine.

After that, Dave wanted to take us out for drinks and obviously we didn’t object. I was so thirsty for free drinks that I completely forgot about my phone and telling Brady I was pregnant. By the time we got back to the office it was 4:30. I had two missed calls and several text messages.

“Answer the phone please.”

“Reese.”

“Seriously. I’m freaking out here.”

I felt terrible and decided I would come clean and give him an amazing blow job later.

“Let’s talk later,” I texted back and wrapped up for the day.

Brady called at around six when he got off and asked to come over. I said sure. When he got there, I buzzed him in and opened the door when he knocked.

“You’re off early today,” I said, hugging him.

“Yeah,” was all he said.

We pulled away and I gave Brady my most innocent smile. I hoped he wouldn’t be pissed.

“Are you really pregnant?” he asked me.

I waited a few seconds before saying, “No.”

Brady let out a deep breath. “Then why did you say you were?” He sounded frustrated – almost whiney – but not particularly mad.

“So you went to lunch with Jessica? You said you haven’t talked to her. Sounds like you guys are great friends to me,” I said in an accusatory voice.

“A lot of people went, not just the two of us. I didn’t talk to her.”

“Okay.” I wanted to press the issue, but I didn’t want to come off as an insecure brat like Saturday night.

“Why did you lie, Reese? I told my brother and I’m sure he’s already told my mom.”

Oops.

“Sorry,” I said meekly. I actually really did feel bad. His mother would probably disown him.

“It’s okay,” Brady sighed, but I knew it wasn’t.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that Jessica tagged you on Facebook and you guys haven’t talked in three weeks?” I asked.

“Kind of, yes.”

“You haven’t talked to her in three weeks, right?”

“Reese, it’s hard. We work primarily on the same floors and she’s very persistent. I do my best to avoid her.”

What?

“So you guys never stopped talking?” I clarified.

“I told her that you would prefer if she and I didn’t talk anymore and at first, she respected that. The only time she would talk to me was about work related matters. Then she started back asking how my weekend was and stuff like that. I can’t be rude.”

I nodded. So is that why Jessica added me on Facebook – so she could tag Brady in statuses and brag that they are still friends? Cool.

“Do you want to get dinner?” Brady asked and I nodded. I slipped on my Prada flats, grabbed a jacket and followed Brady out the door.

We went to a bar and grill near my apartment and got beer and appetizers to share. By the time I finished my first beer, Brady was on his third. I hope I’m not driving him into a drinking problem. I know I’m a handful.

When we got back to my apartment I put a movie in and we snuggled.

“Reese, I don’t want Jessica to continue to cause conflict between us,” Brady said out of nowhere. “I’m not interested in her romantically or sexually at all.”

“…Okay,” I started.

“I love everything about you. I only want you right now,” he continued.

Right now? What did that mean?

“I wish you would trust my word on that. I think you’re still punishing me for not being upfront about her. Everyday you have a new issue with me and it seems like there’s nothing I can about it.”

When he said that I really felt bad. Brady completely trusts me and doesn’t seem to be guarding his emotions. At any moment I could rip his heart right out of his chest and stomp it to pieces. Isn’t he afraid of that? I am. That’s why I’m so guarded. But if he’s making himself vulnerable and I’m not, that isn’t fair.

So I’ve decided that I’m going to stop being a psychopath and let myself love him. I mean, I’m going to try. I think he deserves that much.

calm down.

On Saturday evening, we all went on some sort of mega quintuple-date. There was of course Brady and me, then Carly and Chris, Kendra and John, Preston and Dillon and Brady and Chris’s friend Jacob and his girlfriend, Stacey. We went to this tavern and got dinner and drinks. Carly, Preston and I pretty much dominated the conversation mainly because we were the only ones who took advantage of the three dollar shots. I was drunk and hadn’t even spent $20 on drinks so I was pretty happy about that.

I was telling the group about my recent brush with death (crossing the street when a police car ran a red light – no lights or sirens on) and everyone was laughing and clearly enjoying my story. But Brady put an arm around me and whispered, “Calm down,” into my ear.

Is there anything worse than when you’re drunk and someone tells you to calm down and you are already calm?

I glared at him. “I am calm.”

“Okay,” he said and patted my shoulder. Ugh.

After dinner we walked next door to a lowkey club/lounge. The boys hung out at the bar while the girls plus Preston and Dillon took our drinks to the dance floor.

Naturally we danced nonstop and kept flagging down those skanky cocktail waitresses for more drinks. I discovered that I absolutely love Dillon because he’s exactly like me. Every time a new song came on, we screamed because it was our “jam.” So fun. We were fucking shwasted so Carly, Preston, Dillon and I were probably causing a bit of a scene.

I excused myself and went to find Brady. He was with Kendra, John, Chris and Jacob near the bar. I didn’t even notice that Kendra left our group.

“Gawd, can you leave your boyfriend’s side for five fucking minutes?” I asked.

Kendra narrowed her eyes at me. “You guys were embarrassing me.”

Ugh. She’s so insecure. Who cares if we were acting a fool on the dance floor? We were having fun.

The bartender girl appeared and said, “Brady, do you want another Bud Light?”

My head jerked back toward her. Excuse me? Why was she calling my boyfriend by his first name? And why did she look like Blake Lively?

“Do you guys know each other?” I asked Brady.

“What? She’s the bartender,” Brady answered giving me a weird look.

“Yeah, right. How does she know your name?” Drunk Reese glared.

“Probably because I opened a tab with my credit card…which has my name on it.”

“You’ve been waiting to use that excuse all night. How do you know her?”

The bartender was watching the encounter and said, “Ma’am, settle down. I don’t know your boyfriend. I’m just serving drinks.”

I spun around to face her. “Did I ask you?”

She put her hands up like she was going to stay out of it then walked away.

“That was extremely rude,” Brady said.

“I know! I’m going to ask to speak with her manager and get her fired,” I replied.

Brady touched my waist. “No, I mean you. You owe her an apology.”

“Are you taking her side?”

Brady actually rolled his eyes at me and sighed deeply like I was the problem. “Reese, stop.”

I pulled myself away and Brady tried to grab my hand.

“Well, I hope you and Blake enjoy your night. Toodles!”

I stormed off and grabbed Carly, Preston and Dillon and we went outside and found a transient/hipster to give us cigarettes. I have to be really, really drunk and upset to smoke a cig and clearly I was at that point.

I started complaining about Shady Brady and the incident at the bar. Dillon was totally on my side and said that I should definitely look into getting Blake terminated.

“I’m just so over it,” I said taking a long drag of my cigarette. “I can’t even trust him at the bar alone.”

“There’s Brady right there!” Carly exclaimed and Brady and Chris came walking out of the club.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Brady asked as they approached us and then he snatched the cigarette out of my mouth.

“Rude!” I shouted as he threw it on the ground.

Chris mentioned that Uber was coming so Carly and I started saying goodbye to Preston and Dillon.

“Sext me, Dill. Love you guys,” I said hugging both of them.

We got to the duplex (after I demanded we make a pit stop at Taco Bell) and Brady and I went to his room. I started reapplying my lipstick and taking selfies in the bathroom.

“Let’s go to bed, Reese,” Brady said gently. He was already undressed and under the covers.

“Sure, so you can go have sex with Blake while I’m sleeping?” I said.

“Who is Blake?” he asked.

“That bartender ho you’re cheating on me with.”

“Reese, stop that right now,” Brady said, now stern. “We are going to sleep.”

Drunk Reese ignored him and started playing Candy Crush. Brady waited about ten minutes then said, “Are you getting in bed?”

“Fine!” I mumbled and then took off everything except my thong. I climbed into bed and Brady draped an arm around my waist.

“Why are you mad at the bartender?” he asked me.

“She was flirting with you,” I answered.

“No she wasn’t. She was being friendly.”

“She wants to suck your dick.”

“Stop, Reese. I don’t like you like this. You’re being crazy.”

Crazy. Isn’t that what Eric or whatever his name was called me? I didn’t say anything.

“You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re the only one I want,” Brady said.

Barf.

But that was enough to get me to relax and make out with him until I fell asleep.

On Sunday morning I woke up violently hungover and spent three hours on Brady’s bathroom floor. Way too many cheap shots. Brady begged to help nurse me back to health, but I was too grossed out to even let him see me.

I finally showered and emerged from the bathroom and let Brady take me to dunch (dinner/lunch). After a double cheeseburger, fries and a hot dog I felt as good as new.

Brady told me that his older brother is visiting next weekend so I’ll get to meet him. Yippee. I bet he’s such a nerd. Can’t wait to help him get laid!

three way relationship.

After making up with Brady on Monday night, life felt like it was back to normal. On Wednesday, I walked into work in a fantastic mood until I ran into Whitney in the hallway.

“Hi Reese! I just secured a venue for our holiday warehouse sale! It’s a little closer to the suburbs than I would’ve liked, but I’m glad that we can check that off our list,” she said excitedly.

Ugh. I thought about having a talk with Diana since my honest talk with Brady went so well. But I assured Diana that I would figure it out so that’s what I had to do.

“Okay, great. I’m going to go answer some emails,” I said and began to walk away, but Dave was walking into the office.

“Hey ladies!” he greeted us animatedly.

“Hi Dave,” Whitney and I said obediently at the same time.

“I created some display ideas for the furniture bazaar. Can you look at them later and help me decide?” Whitney asked, sweetly.

“Of course I can! Just bring them by my office,” Dave said.

Whitney grinned.

“I like what you’re doing here, Whitney. You’re thinking ahead. We need to move some product and increase our cash flow before we create any more new collections. You hear that, Reese? Let’s not work on any more collaborations until we get this stuff situated.”

I smiled tightly and nodded. “Of course.”

Are you fucking kidding me? Is that not what I was doing with the flash sale website? Whitney stole my idea, but put her tacky ass spin on it.

I stormed to my office and barricaded myself all day. I mostly browsed net-a-porter.com and revolveclothing.com because I was not about to help Whitney with her bullshit. I hope Dave knows I’m not going to.

After work, I met the gang for dollar beers. Preston told us that he was in kind of a bind and he wanted our opinions. We told him to spill.

“So Mr. Murphy and I are doing really, really well, as you guys know.”

We nodded.

“Well, I’ve been talking to this other guy. He’s younger and so fucking hot.”

“Preston…” Kendra said in a warning kind of tone.

“Just listen!” Preston said. “Mr. Murphy met him and thinks he’s adorable too. So I was thinking… We could have a three-way relationship.”

“Like sister wives?” Carly said.

“Or something like that. My thing is, I love being around Mr. Murphy and he takes such good care of me, but he’s just not great in bed. He’s older. It takes him forty five minutes to get hard and then he only lasts for thirty seconds.”

Carly gasped. “What?”

“I know!” Preston said, leaning across the table. “So, if we add this younger guy to the mix it will definitely spice up the bedroom. It’ll suck to have to share Murph’s money, but I’m just not satisfied sexually right now.”

“Are all parties involved okay with this arrangement?” Kendra asked.

“Well, I haven’t proposed my idea to anyone yet. Do you guys think it is even a reasonable thing to want in my life?”

“Personally, I wouldn’t want to share my boyfriend with anyone,” I spoke up.

Preston narrowed his eyes at me. “Well, we know that. Your boyfriend can’t even have a life before you.”

True.

An hour later, Kendra needed to go home to do some work so we left. Carly and I decided to go to Brady and Chris’s. When we got there, Chris let us in and said he and Brady were hanging out in the basement. We walked down there and found Brady on the couch, watching tv.

He stared at me for a moment then said “Hey babe,” but didn’t get up to greet me.

“Hi!” I squealed, sitting down beside him. We hugged and Carly and Chris joined us on the couch.

“Are you guys just sitting here? How boring,” Carly said.

“Aren’t you glad I came to entertain you?” I said, turning to Brady.

“Of course,” he smiled. His eyes looked a little bit red and his eyelids were low.

“Aw, are you tired?” I asked.

“Yeah, kinda,” Brady said. “What did you guys do tonight?”

“We had dollar beers with Kendra and Preston,” I replied and then got excited to tell Brady about Preston’s crazy idea. “Oh my gosh, so Preston is bored with his relationship so he wants to get another boyfriend and have two boyfriends! Like a three way relationship!”

“That’s crazy,” Brady said. And then waited a beat. “Maybe we should try it…”

Before I could even digest what he said, Chris added, “With Jessica,” and the two of them started laughing their idiot heads off.

Way too soon. I watched Brady double over in laughter and turned to Carly. She gave me a wide eyed look and shook her head indicating that she didn’t know what to say.

“How is that funny?” I snapped.

“It isn’t,” Brady said, catching his breath. “Chris, you’re such a dick sometimes.”

Chris continued laughing.

I felt my body start to warm up in anger. I couldn’t believe they were laughing at and making light of the Jessica situation. Did Chris even know the extent of what happened with Brady and Jessica? Or were they just laughing because I’d freaked out like a psycho? From my point of view, it wasn’t that funny. Why were they laughing so hard? Obviously they know more than I do.

“Sorry babe,” Brady said, snaking his arm around my waist and nuzzling my neck.

“Get the fuck off me,” I mumbled and peeled myself away. We all sat there for an awkward silent few minutes.

“Reese, did Brady tell you we’re having a party on Saturday?” Chris asked me.

I shook my head, but said nothing.

“Oh yeah, we have to invite all our friends! It’s going to be so much fun!” Carly enthused.

“K,” I said shortly.

Carly and Chris started discussing the party and Brady leaned close to my ear.

“Hey. I’m sorry. That was completely inappropriate.”

I ignored him.

“I have something you might like upstairs,” he continued.

“What is it?” I asked sharply.

“Why don’t you come upstairs and see?”

I shot him a dirty look so he knew that I was still irritated with him then got up and headed for the stairs. Brady followed me and steered me into the kitchen. I stood there with my arms crossed standoffishly while he went through the cabinets. I couldn’t think of anything I could possibly want, but I was willing to entertain him. Seconds later, he pulled out a pack of birthday cake Oreos. I bit my lip.

“Do you want one?” Brady asked.

One?

“Give me that,” I said, snatching the pack of Oreos from his hand. Birthday cake Oreos are literally my favorite things in the world. I tore the pack open, grabbed as many cookies as I could fit in my hand and gave it back to Brady.

“You got me hooked on these,” he said, taking a couple of Oreos out for himself. I was too busy chewing to respond.

We munched on several Oreos in silence then Brady started walking toward to his room and I followed him. I kicked off my shoes and leaned back on the bed and Brady did the same.

“You smell very nice,” he said, nuzzling my neck.

“Thanks,” I replied, letting him kiss and grope me. Hearing Jessica’s name was a definite mood killer, but I couldn’t deny that I loved feeling his hands and mouth all over my body.

Brady pushed my top up to my neck and started gently sucking my boobs. He ran his tongue down my torso and yanked off my underwear and skirt before ducking his head between my legs. Within minutes, I was screaming and squirming about to come.

Brady stood up and pulled off his shirt and unbuckled his pants. I completely forgot about how annoyed I was with him as he pushed into me without even thinking about finding a condom (which frankly we haven’t used in at least two weeks). Brady pushed one of my legs up toward my head and placed his hands on the bed on either side of my face. He thrusted hard, like he had some aggression to let out and mumbled something inaudible in my ear. Brady never dirty talks during sex so I was surprised and I almost asked him to repeat himself.

Brady buried his face in my neck and groaned my name then collapsed on top of me. Usually he finishes…elsewhere but he didn’t even pull out. Brady rolled off me and I couldn’t help thinking that if we were going to be fucking irresponsibly like this then I had to get to the bottom of the Jessica comment.

“Have you talked to Jessica?” I demanded.

“Nah,” Brady said, not missing a beat. He ran a hand up my inner thigh and I pushed it away.

“So explain to me why y’all laughed so hard at what Chris said.”

“I dunno,” he said as he got up to pull his pants up. “It was a joke. Don’t freak.”

“Yes you do know,” I said. “And don’t tell me not to freak.”

Who the fuck was this and what did he do with my mature boyfriend? Brady was acting like a straight up frat boy.

We got up and dressed and found Carly and Chris in the kitchen. Carly said she had to go home because she had to work early and asked me if I wanted a ride home or if I wanted to stay. I told her I was going home and Brady acted hurt that I didn’t want to stay the night with him. He needed to be punished though.

I thought the Jessica situation was fixed, but now I’m not so sure.

no more jessicas.

On Monday morning I woke up much earlier than usual, went for a run, got ready for work, and stopped and got donuts for the whole office. I ended up getting four dozen and couldn’t carry them all so I made one of the workers carry it to the office for me (before you call me a lazy brat, just know that I gave him a generous tip).

I immediately started working away until around 1:30 then decided to take a break and grab something to eat. I found my phone at the bottom of my bag where I’d left it that morning and was surprised to see a new text message from Brady. It said, “Do you want to talk?”

I let out a happy sigh. Finally. Of course I wanted to talk. I sat there drafting about a thousand different responses before ultimately deciding on, “Okay.”

I waited to see what Brady would say back for ten minutes then threw my phone in my bag and headed out to lunch.

I continued working all afternoon and didn’t hear from Brady again until around 4:00. He said, “Do you want to meet for dinner?”

I said, “Okay,” again.

He responded back with the name of a place near my apartment and suggested we meet at 7:30. I typed, “Okay,” one last time. He gave no indication about what he wanted to talk about – whether he wanted to work our issues out or end things in person – which concerned me. In an ideal world, we would meet up, he would apologize profusely about not telling me about Jessica, he would beg for my forgiveness and then present me with a $12,000 designer bag.

I stayed at the office until 6:30 then went home and changed into a dress and booties. I didn’t plan well and ended up showing up to the place at 7:45. I pulled out my phone to text Brady that I had finally arrived, but I saw him sitting in a booth near the door. He stood up as I approached with an unreadable look on his face and kissed me lightly on the cheek. We both sat down.

“I already ordered. Do you want a beer or anything?” he asked, really properly.

I shook my head. Brady was acting like we didn’t even know each other which made me get defensive. He had no right to be mad. All I broke was his phone. He broke my heart.

“Okay,” he said.

We sat there for a minute not saying anything. Finally Brady said, “Reese, I’m sorry.”

I raised my eyebrows and nodded like “Go on.”

“I wasn’t completely open with you about Jessica. I should have been upfront and told you exactly what happened. That’s all I can say. I won’t make any excuses.”

I nodded in agreement.

“You have every right to be angry that I didn’t tell you and that you had to find out on your own. Seeing you that upset because of me was hard to watch. I apologize for that.”

“What’s the story with you and her?” I demanded.

Brady looked kind of surprised at my question. “Just everything I told you. We began working together a few months ago and she was quite persistent from the beginning. I’m very busy at work so I couldn’t pay attention to her and I think she took that as a challenge…”

“And she just randomly offered you a blow job and you accepted.”

He started to blush furiously. “I mean, yeah.”

“But y’all didn’t have sex?”

“No. I ended things before they could go that far.”

I glared at him for a few minutes.

“Um,” for the first time ever I saw Brady struggling with what to say. “I don’t want to throw everything away because of this. I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you.”

I uncrossed my arms as I started to soften.

“Yeah…” I began, unsure of what to say. Have I mentioned how much I hate talking about my feelings? “I don’t either.”

“You don’t what?”

“Want to throw everything away.”

He looked relieved. “I’m glad we are on the same page.”

I smiled and nodded.

“Those two days I gave you to cool off made me realize how much I really do like you.”

I waited a full minute before saying, “Me too,” really quietly.

“So I would like to make this work. If you want to.”

“What is ‘this?'” I asked.

“Us. Our relationship.” Brady looked confused.

“We never defined our relationship. Except the night when Jessica confronted you about it which doesn’t even really count,” I said in an accusatory voice.

Brady was unfazed by what I said. “I mean, I introduced you to my parents. I told them you were my girlfriend…”

My heart jumped. “Oh.”

“Is that not what you want?”

“It is,” I said. I decided that I was going to have to stop playing coy and hiding my feelings. If I wanted this to work with Brady I had to be open too.

“Okay…”

“I’m not good with relationships,” I blurted out.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just not. I’m stubborn and needy and possessive and I suck at expressing my feelings.”

“You’re expressing your feelings now,” Brady said.

I let out a deep breath. He was right – I was expressing myself and I had yet to spontaneously combust so maybe it was fine. I kept going.

“I may have some mild trust issues from my previous relationships and you can see how this doesn’t help.”

“That’s completely understandable. I’ve done nothing to give you any reason to trust me.”

Brady owning up to what he did seemed to make everything okay. Whenever my ex did something he wasn’t supposed to, he would reverse it and make it seem like it was somehow my fault.

“My ex-boyfriend kind of ruined me. Not that I was perfect from the beginning. But he did some really awful things,” I went on.

“I’m sorry,” Brady said, although I’m not sure what he was apologizing for. He looked at me kind of cautiously before asking, “What did he do?”

I didn’t expect Brady to ask for details so I had to take a moment to gather my thoughts. Normally, I would have blown his question off, but we were being honest and open. Plus I appreciated that he had the balls to ask.

“What didn’t he do?” I answered. “He had sex with other girls, made out with them in front of me at parties, told everyone on campus that I was a psycho.”

Just talking about it was making me grind my teeth. Why did I ever even put up with that shit? I was such a pathetic, needy little girl.

“Yikes,” Brady said. “Worse than I thought.”

I nodded. We were silent for a moment then Brady said, “I guess I’m not really the best with relationships either.”

“How come?” I wanted to know.

“I realized that my parents aren’t like normal parents. They’re very…cold and disconnected. I mean, you met them. They aren’t affectionate at all so I never got that growing up.”

I nodded. “I can see that…” So I’m the only one who thinks his mother is a cold, unwelcoming little woman.

“Yeah. They don’t talk to us about anything personal. We never got a sex talk or anything like that. They only wanted to know what colleges we got into and our GPAs and things of that nature. Even now, they rarely say ‘I love you.’ So I think that has affected the way I am in relationships.”

Wow. His parents rarely tell him they love him? I can’t imagine. My parents send me random text messages throughout the day telling me how much they love me. I felt for him.

After our food came, things went back to normal for the most part. He told me about his weekend and he confirmed that he and John went on some sort of golf date on Saturday. He said that his phone was a complete goner so he ended up having to pay to get a new one. It almost made me feel bad, but not really because it taught him a valuable life lesson.

After Brady paid for dinner, we walked outside. Since the place was so close to my apartment, I’d walked, but Brady asked me to walk to his car with him. It didn’t seem weird at the time, but now that I’m thinking about it, it was kind of an odd request.

We got to his car and he opened the passenger door like he wanted me to get in, but the seat was filled with dozens of red, pink, white and yellow roses. There had to be a hundred there.

“I didn’t want to bring them in the restaurant, but I got you these,” Brady explained.

“Aww,” I cooed looking at him. “That’s so sweet.” It wasn’t the designer bag I was hoping for, but I was grateful for the gesture.

He shrugged sheepishly and I couldn’t help reaching over and hugging his adorable ass. Brady offered to carry the huge bouquet to my apartment and my doorman, Frank, said, “Someone must have been in the doghouse.”

I giggled at him calling Brady out. When we got up to my apartment, Brady put the flowers down and we stood there looking at each other. I invited him to sit down.

“So are we okay?” Brady asked me.

“I think so,” I said, nodding then I narrowed my eyes at him. “But don’t fucking hang out with her anymore.”

“I won’t. I didn’t plan on it.”

“Don’t even talk to her. Don’t go to lunch with her. Delete her number.”

“Of course,” Brady said.

I realized that I hadn’t apologized or fully owned up to my part of the fight yet and I needed to to make things right.

“I’m sorry I broke your phone,” I said and surprisingly saying the word “sorry” didn’t kill me.

“Don’t worry about it,” Brady said.

I swallowed, preparing myself to drop the Derrick bomb. “By the way, you remember my friend, Derrick, right? From my birthday?”

Brady nodded.

“Well, in college we like, kind of hooked up, but it wasn’t really a big deal. It only happened once, but he confessed that he still likes me on my birthday,” I babbled.

Brady’s eyebrows shot up like he was surprised then he nodded slowly as if he was putting some puzzle pieces together and it was all making sense now.

“I guess I could have told you that a while ago,” I said.

“That would’ve been good to know.”

“Just like it would’ve been good to know about Jessie,” I said sweetly.

“Point taken.”

We sat in silence for a minute then Brady said, “So no more Derricks.”

And I said, “And no more Jessicas.”

We stayed up until almost 2:00 AM just talking and not having sex which I think we needed.

So everything is settled, I think.

Give me your thoughts.

the most thoughtful gift.

When I got to work on Tuesday, Diana called me into her office.

“How was your weekend? You had a ton of fun, I imagine,” she said when I sat down.

“I did,” I said, smiling. “It was also my birthday so I celebrated.”

“Well, you’re here in one piece so that’s a great sign.”

I’m glad that even after everything, Diana and I still have a great relationship.

“So, I know you have a lot on your plate right now. You’re taking on so much extra work lately and Dave and I really appreciate you.”

“Yeah. My plate is very full,” I admitted.

“To help take some weight off your shoulders, we have promoted Whitney into a brand new position that was created just for her.”

I was silent so Diana continued explaining.

“Brand strategy manager. She will continue overseeing social media, but in addition, she will work alongside you with branding.”

I blinked.

“I just wanted to run this by you since I know you and Whitney have not always seen eye to eye.”

How did Whitney weasel her way into a promotion? And yes, I was swamped with work, but that’s the way I liked it. I didn’t want help, especially from Whitney.

“Okay,” I said, sweetly.

“You’re okay with this?” Diana looked kind of surprised.

What was the alternative? Refusing to work with Whitney and looking like an uncooperative brat?

“Don’t worry, Diana. We will make it work,” I enthused.

Immediately after the meeting, Whitney stopped by my office.

“I already have a ton of ideas for marketing pitches. We’ve been lacking in a few areas so I created a file outlining everything. I just emailed it to you,” she said.

I gave her the fakest, syrupiest smile I could muster. “Thanks. I’ll look at it.”

Keyword: look. Right before I moved it to the trash.

Later that evening, Brady and I met for dinner and drinks. I told him about Whitney’s promotion and how annoyed about it I was.

“Don’t be annoyed. At least you’ll be getting some relief from all the work you have to do,” he said.

“I don’t want relief,” I glared.

“It will allow you more time to invest elsewhere. Perhaps spend more time on each project instead of juggling multiple things at once…”

“I don’t want that,” I said sharply. “Everything is perfect as is. I don’t need help.”

Brady saw how irritated I was getting and took a bite of his food. I considered what he said and started thinking of all the upsides. I could treat Whitney like my own little personal assistant. I mean, I have been wanting one. I could keep her so busy with running my errands that she wouldn’t have any time to work on branding. Perfect.

Brady interrupted my thoughts.

“So did you free your schedule for the 19th through 21st?” he asked.

I wrinkled my nose in confusion. “No. Why?”

He looked at me blankly. “Did you not open the gift I got you?”

I had spent so much time at work and Brady’s that I completely forgot about the little white box he gave me the night of my birthday. It was still tangled up in my sheets.

“No. I completely forgot about that,” I admitted.

A look of disappointment flashed over his face briefly.

“What is it?”

“Why don’t you look at it when you get home?” he suggested, taking a drink from his beer.

I feel awful about completely disregarding his gift. I should’ve opened it that night.

Brady came home with me and I hurried to find my gift. It was exactly where I left it, tossed carelessly on the bed. I tore open the box and single piece of paper fell to the bed. When I picked it up, I saw that it was the flight information for a trip to Houston, TX. For me. I didn’t say anything for a moment and Brady spoke up.

“I know you don’t get to see your family often so I’m forcing you to go.”

My heart felt too big for my chest and I actually thought I was going to cry. It is probably the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever gotten from a guy. He didn’t book a romantic trip for the two of us, he booked a trip for me.

“That’s…very thoughtful,” I said, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

Brady sat next to me. “I know your family misses you. Go surprise your parents. They will be ecstatic.”

“They will be.” I threw my arms around him and hugged him, hoping he took it as a thank you.

I know his gift isn’t extravagant or anything I’ve been asking for, but I would never go home if he hadn’t bought me that plane ticket. And I’m actually really excited.

We hooked up and fell asleep after that. I was woken up in the morning by Brady who quickly got out of bed. I pulled the comforter over my head while I heard him getting ready. He shouted goodbye and I mumbled something back before he shut my door.

I fell back asleep for little while longer, but my ringing phone woke me up. It was from an unknown Chicago number and even though I usually don’t pick up unknown numbers, I answered it.

“Hey, it’s me,” I recognized Brady’s voice on the other end.

“Hi,” I said sleepily.

“I was in such a hurry that I left my phone on your nightstand,” he said.

I glanced to my right and saw his black iPhone sitting there.

“Do you think if you have time today, you could bring it to me at work? It’s kind of important.”

“Sure,” I said, smiling. I loved the fact that he was asking me for a favor. And if his phone was with me, how did he get my number to call me? He must have it memorized. We’re practically engaged.

I told him that I would most likely take a break at around 12:30 and he told me to use the south entrance and let the receptionist know to page him.

His phone was dead so his alarm didn’t go off which explained why he woke up late. I put it in my bag to take to him later.

When I got to work, Whitney was already working away at her desk.

“Reese!” she exclaimed. “I have a meeting set up for us today.”

“Okay. Who with?”

“I found this discount furniture bazaar that I think would be really good for us. It would be something a little different.”

“Discount furniture bazaar,” I repeated. While our stuff isn’t luxury by any means, I wouldn’t put it in the discount category. What kind of message would it send to our customers if we had stuff at some sort of flea market?

“Yes. I want to get some more information before presenting it to Dave and Diana. We’re meeting them at 2:00.”

“I’m busy at that time,” I lied. I actually wanted nothing to do with this foolishness she was trying.

“Oh darn,” Whitney said, not looking at all disappointed. “Well, I’ll let you know how it goes.”

Later that morning she came in my office.

“I was thinking since the last warehouse sale went so well we could do it twice a year. The next one could be around the holidays and we could turn it into sort of an event with other vendors and stuff,” Whitney said.

“I think the way we do the warehouse sale now is fine,” I replied.

“It is, but I thought it would be cool to spice it up a bit. I’m going to start planning it and send you what I come up with.”

An hour later, she CC’d Diana and me in an email with a sample flyer for the holiday warehouse sale. Diana immediately emailed her back: “Interesting idea Whitney. Please send more info.”

I was so fucking irritated that Diana was even entertaining this. I grabbed my bag and headed off to meet Brady.

I got to the hospital and asked the receptionist to call him then I stood there talking to her because her eyebrows were awesome and I had to know who did them. She tried to tell me that they were natural which was an obvious lie. When I told her I didn’t believe her she pulled up a #TBT picture on Instagram. Same brows at thirteen. Whatever.

I sat down and waited for a few minutes until I spotted Brady walking down the hall toward me. And he was with Jessica. I can’t believe that after Saturday night he had the nerve to show up with her. I watched as they slowly walked down the wide white hallway, chatting and laughing. Brady was in dress clothes, a white coat and glasses, while Jessica wore bubblegum pink scrubs and a high ponytail. Bitch.

“Hey. Thanks so much for coming,” Brady greeted me with a one armed hug.

“No problem,” I said sweetly and handed him his phone.

“You caught us just as we were heading to lunch,” Jessica said with that condescending ass smile on her face.

“Oh?” I looked at Brady.

“Yeah, we will probably just grab something quick from the cafeteria,” he said.

“Are you on lunch break too then?” Jessica asked.

“I don’t really have a set lunch break. I just come and go as I please,” I said.

“Nice,” Jessica smiled.

“Do you want to go down to the cafeteria with us?” Brady asked.

“No,” I said immediately and gave him a chilly look. “I actually have a lot to do and I put it all on hold to come here.”

“I do appreciate it,” Brady said.

“It’s not a problem. You can just repay me later.”

“How about I treat you to lunch?”

I glanced at Jessica who was watching the encounter with the smile still on her face. Ugh, she’s so weird.

“Okay. I could probably spare half an hour,” I said nonchalantly.

Brady smiled. “Great. You choose the place.”

He started toward the door without acknowledging Jessica so I waved at her before we walked out. We went across the street to a little Mexican place and got tacos because they were quick and we both really did need to get back to work. I asked him if he and Jessica frequently got lunch together.

“No, it was a coincidence that we were both going to the cafeteria at the same time today,” he said.

“Coincidence?” I repeated, hoping he would elaborate some more.

“Usually I work through lunch.”

“So do I,” I said.

Sometimes Brady is so oblivious that I think there is no way he could have anything going on with Jessica. It makes me feel like I’m crazy for even thinking it when Brady is so calm and cool about it. He is so casually unconcerned about her so I feel like their relationship is one sided. Not only that, but it took him forever to even have sex with me and we were dating. Even though Jessica seems like a thirsty skank, I just can’t see how anything could happen. Now I sound so naive. I don’t know what to think.

halfway to fifty.

My birthday festivities started on Friday evening with an outlandish shopping spree with Preston and Carly in the suburbs. My parents transferred a ton of money into my bank account in lieu of a gift so I thought I would reward myself with a few new pieces.

I’m not even going to talk about how much I spent, but I found the perfect birthday dress plus a cute matching bra and panty set to wear for Brady after (and a bunch of things I needed for fall).

On Saturday, Carly surprised me with a mani/pedi/facial which was much needed. The spa had complementary champagne so we guzzled down that down while we gossiped. By the time we got out of there it was time to get ready for dinner so we met Preston at my apartment. We took shots (because birthday) and got ready with the music blasting.

Brady and Chris met us at my apartment so we could all taxi to the restaurant.

“You look very nice,” Brady said, following me into my room.

I was tromping around trying to find my clutch and said, “Thanks.”

I finally found it and headed toward the door.

Brady stepped in front of me to stop me from walking out. “Hey, I got you something.”

He handed me a small, white rectangular box. It was very light so I had no idea what it could be.

“Thank you,” I said, hugging him. We pulled apart and kissed briefly so I didn’t get my pink lipstick all over him.

“The cab is here!” ~~Pauly D~~ Preston called from the living room.

I tossed the box on the bed to open later and we headed downstairs. Preston reserved a table at a fancy fusion restaurant and when we got there, there was a bottle of white wine chilling on the table.

Derrick and one of his friends were already there. Ugh. I thought after the big fight we had, he would’ve been too scared to show his face. Apparently not.

“Happy birthday, Reese,” Derrick said, standing up to greet me. He tried to grab me to hug me, but I stepped to the side to avoid him.

“Thanks Derrick!” I said with mock enthusiasm.

His face kind of fell as I walked past him and took my seat at the head of the table. All of our friends were there including two girls I used to work with showed up along with one of Preston’s exes. We had a nice dinner then Preston brought out the most delicious looking chocolate cake that had “Happy Halfway To 50 Reese!” written in pink. I was most offended that he would tempt me with the cake knowing my dress wasn’t going to allow me to have any. Asshole.

After dinner, the five of us plus Derrick and his friend headed to a rooftop to drink. Brady insisted on opening a tab for all of us because it was my birthday and why not? Naturally we started with tequila. I also ordered a beer and a martini and after I finished them, Carly and I took the obligatory trip to the ladies room. I told her how annoyed I was that Derrick showed up and she said that I needed to show him that Brady and I are together because obviously he wasn’t getting the message.

“So, I need to make out with Brady in front of him?” I clarified.

“Yeah, or something. And Brady will enjoy the PDA,” she smiled sinisterly.

We got back out there and found the guys near the bar. Brady and Derrick were standing next to each other which was already uncomfortable enough.

“Heyyy, babe,” I cooed, throwing my whole body into him and then kissing him loudly.

“Hey, do you want another drink?” Brady asked.

I glanced at Derrick to make sure he was watching and he was. I nodded.

“Be right back,” Brady said.

As soon as he walked away, Derrick said, “Are you doing this on purpose?”

I feigned surprise. “Doing what?!”

“You know what, Reese,” he said, looking annoyed.

“I honestly don’t. I’m just trying to enjoy my birthday.”

Derrick was silent for a minute and I glanced behind me to see if Brady was on his way back. I couldn’t see him in the crowd.

“Reese,” Derrick said.

I turned back to look at him and raised my eyebrows as if to say, “Hmm?”

“Reese, I like you.”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” I said, dismissively.

“And you know I like you,” he continued. “Does it make you feel good to throw your ‘boyfriend’ in my face? Because I think that’s a real bitch thing to do.”

I felt my face getting hot and my hands balling into fists at my side involuntarily.

“Excuse me?” I said to make sure he wanted to open this can of worms.

“Nothing,” Derrick sighed. “We’re going to go ahead and go. I hope you had a great birthday.”

He signaled his friend and they started to walk away.

“Bye Derrick! Thanks for coming!” I called after him sweetly. Then I remembered him not being able to get it up back in college and started laughing at the irony.

He turned back around and gave me a cold look, obviously catching my joke.

Brady came back with my signature drink – tequila and orange juice – and we met back up with Carly, Preston and Chris to take shots. After that, Brady and I ran off to dance and kiss and flirt and nurse our drinks. We were both super drunk and super horny and really couldn’t keep our hands off each other.

We were headed to the bar to get more drinks (which we didn’t need at all), when someone shrieked “Braaaaaddddyyyyy!”

It wasn’t until a blur of blonde hair flashed in front of me that I realized someone was actually shrieking at Brady. And that someone was the Jessica girl who I met at the charity event. She threw her arms around his neck and held him for three seconds longer than I was okay with. Then pulled away but kept an arm slung on his shoulders. “I didn’t know you were coming here tonight.”

“Yeah, it’s Reese’s birthday,” Brady said.

Jessica looked down at me with that shit eating grin on her face. “Hey. Happy b-day.”

She touched my arm lightly, almost in a pitying way. And who says “b-day” out loud? It was like she was trying to downplay my birthday intentionally.

“You know Kelsey and Rach,” she said motioning toward her two friends standing nearby. They were two plain ass, vanilla white girls just like Jessica.

Brady gave them a head nod and Jessica said, “Reese, we should take a shot for your b-day!”

“We were actually headed to the bar right before you ambushed us,” I deadpanned.

The five of us walked to the bar and Brady ordered us some fruity shot on his tab. It irritated me because he was supposed to be paying for drinks for me and my friends, not this bimbo and her ugly friends.

“Brady, I was telling Kelsey what you told me on Thursday. About the changes to the state board test,” Jessica said.

“Mmm, yes,” he replied and the three of them started talking about tests and licenses and certifications. Brady was being very professional and formal, but Jessica and her drunk friends kept giggling and interrupting and being so obnoxious. Like go away.

Eventually, I got really irritated and walked in between Brady and Jessica to the bar to get a glass of water.

“Well, we’ll let you guys enjoy your night,” I heard Jessica say. “I’ll see you Tuesday.” And as she and Thing 1 and Thing 2 were walking away, I saw her hand graze the side of Brady’s thigh quickly, but deliberately. It was such a subtle action that most people wouldn’t have noticed, but it made my heart speed up and jump to my throat.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” I demanded after they were gone.

Brady looked taken aback. “I don’t know.”

“I just think it’s really weird that she just so happened to be where we are,” I said.

“I mean, this place is quite popular. Look at how packed it is.”

I didn’t bother looking around as I felt hot tears forming in my eyes.

“I can’t believe she’s here. She ruined my birthday!” I cried.

“Baby,” Brady said gently and put an arm around me pulling me close. He had never called me that ever nor do I like being called pet names. Usually. His soothing tone and affection was actually exactly what I needed.

He kissed my forehead and held me right there for a few moments. “Reese, it’s okay.”

“I want to go home,” I sniffled.

“Okay. Let’s go tell our friends we’re leaving.”

Brady and I walked around until we found Carly, Chris and Preston huddled by the bar.

“Hey, we’re going to go,” Brady said to them.

“What’s wrong, doll face? You look upset,” Preston said, pulling me away from Brady.

“Well, that fugly girl Brady works with is here and she fucking touched his thigh and said ‘happy b-day’ to me,” I hissed.

“She touched his thigh?” Preston exclaimed.

“Shh!” I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Brady hadn’t heard. I wanted to confront him about it, but not right there.

Brady and I were walking away when Preston shouted, “Love you, Reesie Cup! Have a ton of birthday sex tonight!”

Brady turned and waved before we went outside and got a cab. Brady gave the cabbie his address and paid the man when we got out. When we got inside I immediately started getting undressed in the living room.

“Do you want water?” Brady asked, heading toward the kitchen. I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me. He returned a moment later with two water bottles and sat one in front of me. He fell onto the couch beside me.

I took a long gulp of water then turned to Brady. “Take off your clothes.”

He didn’t even hesitate before pulling his shirt over his head and unbuckling his jeans. I reached over and pumped him a few times before climbing on.

I began bouncing up and down really hard while simultaneously sucking his neck and chest. He threw his head back and I continued sucking hard, purposefully trying to leave marks. I was crashing down on his dick too with force, like I was trying to prove to him and Jessica that he’s mine.

Brady squeezed my butt tight and tried to pull me off as his body tensed up. But I kept going until he grunted and relaxed. I could already see a swollen hickey forming on the side of his neck. Perfect.

“Wow,” he sighed, completely out of breath even though he really didn’t do anything.

I smiled at my accomplishment. We gathered our clothes and went to his room to get in bed.

“I’m sorry you didn’t have a good birthday,” he said once we were settled and laying side by side.

“It was okay,” I replied. Besides the whole Jessica ordeal and the fact that my best friend couldn’t make it, I’d had fun.

“Reese,” Brady put a hand on my naked waist. “I really like you.”

I beamed. Even though Derrick had uttered those exact words just hours before, it felt so much better coming from Brady.

“You’re amazing. I think I’m falling for you.”

I’ve never had a guy tell me they were falling for me and honestly, what does that even mean? I looked at Brady and his eyes were barely open, just small slits. He was obviously seconds away from passing out.

We woke up just before noon and I had a massive headache and a dry mouth. It could’ve been way worse though. Two points for Drunk Reese.

“Morning,” Brady said, turning toward me.

We kissed and then decided to shower to wash the club/bar filth off us. Obviously this turned into slippery shower sex and then he scrubbed me clean.

We got out and wrapped up in towels and I complained that I still felt like shit. My tummy was doing some crazy acrobatics.

“Give me a second. I’ll make you something that’ll fix everything,” Brady said. He threw on a pair of sweats and disappeared into the hallway.

I put on a t-shirt and some shorts and waited several minutes for Brady to come back. When he finally did, he had two glasses filled with an orangey liquid.

“This stuff works. I used to make it for the guys at the house all the time,” he said.

I grabbed a glass from him and asked, “What house?”

I took a sip of the drink. It tasted like orange juice, but I could also taste a hint of cilantro and carrot so it was really yummy and fresh. It burned a little bit going down so I could tell it was spiked with tequila.

“The fraternity house,” Brady said.

“You were in a fraternity?” I asked, surprised. Brady never, ever mentioned being in a fraternity to me. But that explained why he is so good at partying.

“Uh, yeah. Didn’t we talk about that?”

I shook my head. “Never. I had no idea.”

We finished our drinks and Brady stood up to collect our glasses.

“Hey, my parents are going to be in the city tomorrow. Do you want to meet them?” he asked.

Brady must have saw how wide my eyes got because he quickly said, “It’s not a big deal. They’re going to a yacht party and wanted us to come. They’re cool.”

I waited a full thirty seconds before saying, “Okay.”

I don’t know what to expect from Brady’s parents. I know that they are pretty important people, but other than that nothing. I’m usually really good with parents (Kendra’s folks adore me), but what if they think I’m stupid and hate me?

ice.

Kendra showed up to happy hour late with John in tow on Wednesday and I was really annoyed. Happy hour is our chance to talk about guys, not hang out with them. The three of us got tapas and beer and started talking. Well, the two of them did. They started talking about people I don’t know so I pretended to be listening for a little while then I pulled out my phone and started texting. I decided that since apparently we were inviting our men to happy hour I was going to invite Brady too. He said that he was wrapping up a few last minute things but he would be there in thirty to forty five minutes. I love how accessible he is sometimes.

Just when I was considering gouging my eyes out with a fork, Brady showed up. I squealed and threw my arms around him when he showed up next to our table. We had just seen each other the day before, but whatever.

“Hi Brady,” Kendra said as he sat down.

It occurred to me that Kendra and Brady actually haven’t had much interaction except drunken bar nights.

Brady ordered a beer and we all started talking. Brady and John started talking about their jobs since they both work in hospitals. They were off in their own little world and I couldn’t break Brady away. I wanted to tell him how well a meeting went at work, but whenever I tried to pull him away from his new boyfriend, he would turn and smile and pat my knee like I’m some sort of impatient child.

Finally I excused myself to go to the restroom and dragged Kendra with me.

“Why is your boyfriend moving in on my boyfriend?” I demanded.

“I don’t know. I think they’re getting along nicely,” she said, reapplying her red lipstick.

“Well, it’s super inconsiderate that John is talking his ear off and I haven’t even had a chance to tell him about my day,” I said.

“Honestly, you should be happy they are getting along and you can bring Brady around your friends. We can do triple dates with Carly and Chris!” she enthused.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “I don’t want to do triple dates with y’all. I’m an adult.”

“You’re such a fucking brat, Reese,” she said and walked out of the bathroom.

The evening went on and Brady and John became instant BFFs. I was irritated, but I did enjoy seeing Brady talk to someone who is on his same wavelength and can talk with him about glucosamine and the metabolization of alcohol. It was pretty cute hearing him talk like that.

After happy hour, Brady came over. I dug out my pack of birthday cake Oreos and we sat on the couch eating them and watching Teen Mom 2. I finally got a chance to tell Brady about the exciting meeting and what I’ve been doing at work.

“I really like how passionate you are about your work,” he said.

When he said that I realized that work is the only thing I am really passionate about. Well that and drinking. Brady is passionate about his work too, but he also likes to run (he told me he’s running a marathon in a few months. Didn’t invite me though, surprise!), and travel to other countries to help people, and other things that make him an all around good person. I really need to get some hobbies.

On Thursday, I had a meeting with a watercolor artist who I found on Pinterest/Etsy. I thought her paintings would be super cute in thick white frames and also printed on pillows. The girl was kind of greasy and smelled odd and was only interested in how much money she could make. I mean, I get it, but it just kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

After work, I went to Brady’s. Can you believe I’m not tired of him yet? We’ve hung out everyday for the past few weeks. I’m pretty sure this is some kind of record. Chris was at work so Brady and I made drinks (ice, tequila, splash of Sprite, lime) and watched a movie in the basement. Brady made us each another cup after we finished and at that point I was pretty tipsy. We decided to play a drinking card game with our new drinks and as you can probably expect, I lost badly.

“Fuck this game,” I said, swiping the table so all the cards went flying.

Brady smirked at me with low eyes. “Poor sport.”

I flicked him off and went to the wet bar to make another drink.

“Get better at card games then you won’t have to worry about losing,” he called from the couch.

I tossed a piece of ice at him and hit him right in the back of the head. Before I could celebrate my victory, Brady was up and barreling toward me. I screamed and ran, but he caught me by my shirt and yanked me back. He pushed me against the granite counter so my back was to him.

“You want to play with ice, huh?” he taunted.

I felt a cold ice cube on the middle of my back and I shrieked. Brady ran it up my spine and stopped at the back of my neck. I was shivering and squealing involuntarily and trying to slip away, but Brady had me pinned with his body.

“Let me go,” I whined just as he rolled the ice cube down my lower back.

“What? You are the one who wanted to do this,” he said innocently.

I reached behind me to try to claw him away, but Brady grabbed my wrist hard and slammed it back on the counter. He leaned down and kissed my neck really softly despite him trying to break my wrist just seconds before.

I let out some sort of moan/grunt and realized I was really, really turned on. I love aggressive Drunk Brady.

“Are you going to apologize?” he asked.

I didn’t know if apologizing would make it stop and I didn’t know if I even wanted it to so I didn’t say anything.

Brady put another cold cube on the back of my neck and kept it in the same spot until it started to drip down and make me numb. He leaned down and licked the dripping water up and started sucking my neck. He pushed his hips into me so I could feel his boner. Literally almost orgasmed right there.

“Just say you’re sorry, Reese,” he said in my ear as he ran another ice cube down my back.

Between his weight pushing me against the counter, the sensation of the cold ice cube and the fact that I was so turned on, I couldn’t seem to catch my breath.

When I didn’t say anything, Brady pulled my shorts down and put an ice cube on my butt cheek. I couldn’t help giggling.

“I’m…sorry,” I finally gasped.

“Are you?”

I heard his belt and then he rammed into me and started thrusting hard, a lot harder than usual, but I liked it. He grabbed a fistful of my hair with one hand and used the other to steady my hip while he plowed into me. Brady was going so much harder than usual like he was genuinely mad at me for throwing ice at him.

After that, we got dressed and fell asleep on the couch and didn’t wake up until the morning.

sexcapades.

I decided to tell my mother about my new car first then maybe she could break the news gently to my dad and soften the blow. She demanded I send her pictures immediately and then proceeded to obsess over how cute and perfect for her it was. She’s so crazy.

Right after we hung up, my dad called.

“You decided against the Altima, doll?” he asked.

“Yeah, they didn’t have what I wanted in stock. I just really feel like this car is perfect for my lifestyle. It’ll be good in the winter and the black will easy to be able to keep clean,” I over-explained myself.

“That’s great. I’m not even going to ask how much your insurance premium is, but you work very hard. You deserve it,” he said.

I couldn’t help smiling. My dad is so cute.

On Monday we had a meeting with some potential new investors at work. They wanted to know what direction the company is going in so I gave a really good thirty minute presentation about all the projects I’m working on. Afterwards, they asked a ton of questions so I think they really liked it. They met with Dave and Diana privately after that and I haven’t heard anything since. I hope it went good.

Brady called when he got off work to invite me over and I told him that I would meet him there. I have a car now I don’t need to rely on other people for rides.

When I got there Brady had his little work station set up in the dining room which was kind of annoying because he’s the one who invited me over.

“So how was your day?” I asked, sitting on the dining room table.

“Good. I just have a few things to finish up quickly,” Brady said as he sat back down in front of his laptop. I know he said he’s not a workaholic, but I’m beginning to think otherwise.

I sat there playing on my phone for a few minutes then I decided to go wait for Brady in his room naked. I wasn’t even halfway down the hallway when I heard Brady’s footsteps behind me. He grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I’ll wait for you in your room,” I said.

Instead of saying anything back, he pushed me against the wall and started kissing me. His aggressiveness was so hot and I smiled even though we were making out.

“I guess you’re finished with work?” I said, pulling away.

He mumbled something, grabbed my shoulders and steered me into his bedroom. I turned around laughing and pulled him on top of me on the bed. Brady reached down and pulled my shirt over my head then hastily pulled my yoga pants and underwear down at once. He dipped down and ran his tongue down my tummy just below my belly button. He began kissing me everywhere except where I needed him to and it was agonizing. Apparently I’m not the only tease.

Finally he plunged his tongue into me and started working his magic. He persisted on, with much more dominance than normal, until I came hard. He stood up and reached into his night table and held up a foil condom packet proudly. After he slipped it on, he fucked me senseless. But instead of just thrusting in and out, Brady reached down between us and used his thumb to gently rub me. What a sensation.

Afterwards we climbed into bed, exhausted.

“You’re really different than any girl I’ve ever dated,” Brady said out of the blue.

“Mmhm. How so?” I asked, still a bit dazed.

“Just everything about you. Your attitude. The way you carry yourself. The way you talk. It is a quite refreshing change though. I enjoy your company,” he said.

I smiled at how politically correct it all sounded. Only he could make compliments sound like he was reviewing my qualifications for a job.

“Thanks. I think. So what kind of girls do you normally go after?”

Brady bit his lip like he was thinking. “Prissy New England girls.”

I raised my eyebrows but didn’t say anything so he continued.

“High maintenance, spoiled, gossipy… The exact opposite of you. You’re so chill and laidback.”

I have never been called laidback in my life and I don’t know if it’s a compliment or not. Maybe Brady doesn’t really know me after all.

We fell asleep sometime after that and I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I got back in bed and checked my email, Facebook and Pinterest for a few minutes. Then I felt Brady wrap his arms around me and press me against his body. He was hard.

Without a word, he started kissing my neck and rubbing my pussy simultaneously. And then he slowly entered me from behind while still kissing my neck. Spooning sex.

I never thought Brady and I would have such good sexcapades, but I am loving every second of it.

the man knows how to get down.

On Tuesday, I decided that Brady and I were going to have sex once and for all. I texted him that morning saying that we should hang out and he told me that I could come over around 8:00 PM. Perfect.

I stayed at the office later to distract myself and then went home, showered, and put on a tight tank top and shorts with no bra or panties. I made sure to pack a few overnight essentials in my purse.

Brady came to get me and I immediately noticed him checking out my chest. This was going to be easier than I thought. When we got to his place, Chris was in the kitchen and the three of us had a beer and talked for like twenty minutes. Then Chris said he was going to watch tv in the basement and I couldn’t wait to get Brady alone.

Except he pulled out his laptop and said he wanted to work on something quickly but it wouldn’t take long. While he sat at the end of the dining room table, I plopped on the table near him and waited patiently. Well, for ten minutes I did. Then I started getting antsy.

“I thought you said it was going to be quick,” I whined.

“It is,” Brady said, not looking up from his laptop. “Just give me a few more minutes.”

“Fine, I’ll just fucking sit here,” I pouted.

Brady glanced up at me and did kind of a double take. At first I thought he was annoyed with me for sitting on his table, but then a little smile formed on his lips.

He stood up and said, “Did you have something else in mind?”

I shrugged as Brady started walking toward me. My heart began racing.

“Anything else. I’m bored,” I said.

“Bored?” he repeated, stopping in front of me. My legs were dangling off the table and he grabbed them and put them around his waist.

I nodded.

“Well, what do you suggest?”

Sick of the games, I snatched him by his tie and kissed him hard. Brady dropped a hand to the table to stop us from falling then used his other hand to reach under my tank top. Finally. That’s how it’s done, Brady!

He pushed my top up exposing my boobs and leaned down to take one into his mouth. It felt so good that I couldn’t help letting out a little moan. I pushed him off for a second, but only so I could unbuckle his belt. Brady unbuttoned and unzipped his pants and let them fall so he was standing there in red Ralph Lauren boxers. So freaking cute.

He yanked my shorts off so I was basically sitting on his dining table naked. We were both panting and Brady said, “Hang on.”

I started to whine until I realized that he was rummaging through his pants trying to find a condom. He always thinks so rationally. The last thing that was on my mind was a damn condom.

Brady finally found it and I waited with my eyes closed while he put it on. I felt him wrap his arm around my waist and pull me to the edge of the table and then super, super, super slowly enter me. Like I could feel every inch going in until he completely filled me up. And it felt like heaven.

“You don’t have to be gentle with me,” I whispered.

“No?”

I opened my eyes and looked at him, his jaw tight and eyes intense and fiery. I shook my head. Brady picked up the pace and I legitimately felt like I was in love with him. It was so worth the wait. I started moaning louder and Brady told me to shh. It occurred to me that we were still in the dining room and Chris could come upstairs at any moment. Plus the patio blinds were wide open. All of this made it so much better.

I was literally crying out Brady’s name and he stuck a finger in my mouth to silence me. He bowed his head and planted a light kiss on my clavicle and it sent me over the edge. My legs started trembling and Brady must have sensed what was happening and sped up. He groaned into my neck just as I was finishing. We came in unison? I’m pretty sure that has never happened to me.

Brady put both hands on the table and rested for a second then got up and started pulling his pants up. I couldn’t believe what just happened. And the fact that I was naked on his dining room table was just so bizarre and random, but so hot. Brady may be a little nerdy, but the man knows how to get down.

I got off the table and pulled my shorts back on then Brady turned to me.

“Are you hungry?” Even though his face was a little flushed and his shirt was wrinkled and untucked, he still had that calm and rigid demeanor.

Lol, hungry? I just shrugged. We heard Chris running up the stairs and I panicked. Did he hear us? Would he be able to tell what just happened? Brady looked a little disheveled and I probably looked worse.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” I said quickly and scurried out of there. I went to the bathroom attached to Brady’s room and peed then looked at myself in the mirror. My makeup was a little bit streaky but I had that after sex glow. Seriously, I need MAC to bottle this look so I can buy it.

I washed my face, changed into sleeping clothes and got in bed. I sent out a mass text to my friends that said, “Brady just fucked me and it was totally worth the wait!”

Preston texted back, “Congrats doll. So you devirginized him?”

“He wasn’t a virgin. In fact, he was actually really good. I came in record time,” I replied.

Kendra said, “Tell me all about it at happy hour tomorrow.”

I heard Brady walk in and immediately threw my phone down because I felt guilty about telling everyone.

“Are you in bed already?” he asked.

“Mmhm, do you want to join me?”

“Give me a second.” Brady changed into a pair of shorts, used the bathroom then came out and got in the bed next to me. I wondered if he would want to go for round two.

I kissed him quickly then pulled away to gauge his reaction.

“Carly tells me you have a birthday coming up,” he said.

I nodded. “Yep. Labor Day weekend.”

“I’m assuming you have plans already.”

“Yeah, get drunk, duh.”

“I knew that already,” Brady said, smiling.

“You should come out for the festivities.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.”

We kissed and talked until we fell asleep.

I don’t know why we didn’t do this weeks ago.

hot mess in high heels.

Tag Archives: dating