Game Over (On the Wild Side #1)

  Game Over

  Book One in the Wild Side Series

  Cheryl Douglas

  Copyright © by Cheryl Douglas

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, including photocopying, graphic, electronic, mechanical, taping, recording, sharing, or by any information retrieval system without the express written permission of the author and / or publisher. Exceptions include brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Persons, places and other entities represented in this book are deemed to be fictitious. They are not intended to represent actual places or entities currently or previously in existence or any person living or dead. This work is the product of the author’s imagination.

  Any and all inquiries to the author of this book should be directed to:info@authorcheryldouglas.com

  Game Over © 2019 Cheryl Douglas

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Other Books

  Chapter One

  “You need to get Deke to cover that bad boy.”

  Deke. Just hearing her ex-boyfriend’s name slip past her best friend’s lips made Harper break out in a cold sweat. It had been thirteen years since she’d left their tiny town and her high school boyfriend behind. Hearing his name shouldn’t affect her so much. Especially since she’d lived a lot of life since their paths last crossed.

  “Are you kidding me?” Harper asked, looking at the offending tattoo in the full-length mirror. “You really think I’d let my ex near my ass with a tattoo gun? I’d probably end up with a penis on my tailbone, if he still has the same warped sense of humour he had back in high school.”

  And if Deke was anything like the possessive guy he’d been back in the day, he wouldn’t take kindly to seeing another guy’s name tattooed on her derriere. Especially since he’d talked about stamping his own name in the very same spot. But that was a lifetime ago and for all Harper knew his body was covered with reminders of his conquests.

  Jude covered her mouth so the soda she’d been drinking wouldn’t spew all over their clean floor. “Oh my God! Can you imagine? I can totally see him doing that.” She smirked. “But if it would make you feel better I can go with you to supervise, make sure he doesn’t use his instrument of choice to get his revenge.”

  “Revenge?”

  Harper snorted as she sank down in the oversized chair in their small living room. It totally dominated the space, but she’d taken half of everything from the house she’d shared with her ex-fiancée and they were trying to find a way to make it work in their smaller space.

  “Why should he want revenge? He was the one who forgot I existed less than a month after I went away to college.”

  It still stung to think about how quick Deke had been to write her off. They’d dated for three years before she went to a college eight hundred miles away. Within a month he’d decided the long distance thing wasn’t going to work for him and told her to have a nice life.

  “That still doesn’t add up,” Jude said, curling her long auburn hair around her finger as she checked for split ends. She was a hair dresser, so split ends were her life. “Deke was crazy about you. And I happen to know after he broke up with you he was one miserable SOB. It’s not like he was living it up without you.”

  Harper had tried not to ask about Deke after their break-up, but since they both stayed in the same small town and travelled in the same friend circles, she was sure Jude could tell her plenty about the life Deke had led since high school.

  “That was a long time ago,” Harper said, sighing. “Not like anyone ever expects their first love to last forever.”

  “It does sometimes,” Jude said, picking up a nail file from the coffee table. “It did for my parents. And my sister and her hubby have been happily married for ten years. They were high school sweethearts.”

  “True.”

  But life was different in a small town like theirs. The pickings were slim and everyone knew it. Maybe that’s why Deke had never gotten married.

  “How have your folks been?”

  “Great,” Jude smiled. “They’re dying to see you.”

  Harper had only been back in town two weeks. She’d walked in on her fiancée doing the nasty on his desk with the aesthetician who worked on the main level of his office building, and Harper knew if she didn’t leave town she’d land her butt in the clink for going off on one or both of them.

  Thankfully her best friend had an extra bedroom she was looking to rent out, so her hometown seemed like Harper’s best option, for the time being. Her father died five years ago and her mother moved to Florida last year. She was an only child, but she still had aunts, uncles, and cousins in the area. And all of the old-timers welcomed her back like she’d never been gone, which was nice. It felt good knowing you really could come back home again.

  “We should plan to pop in on them this weekend,” Harper said, rolling her neck. “Maybe I’ll make a carrot cake. I know how much your dad likes that.”

  “Ugh! Then I’d have to listen to him complain that no one else ever bakes for him.”

  Harper wasn’t able to visit as often as she would have liked over the years, but whenever she did, she always brought a sweet treat for Jude’s dad. He was one of her favorite people. A reminder that good men still existed. Men who didn’t lie and cheat and lay it all on the line for a little desk action behind closed doors. Not that she was bitter. Much.

  “Are you excited to see everyone tonight?” Jude asked while filing her short purple nails.

  “Uh yeah, sure.”

  Harper was excited to meet up with most of their old friends at the local watering hole. It would be the first time in years they’d all gotten together, but she was afraid to ask whether Deke would be there.

  Jude grinned, jabbing the pointy pink file at Harper. “I know what you’re thinking. It’s written all over your face.”

  Harper tried for a neutral expression but knew she was failing miserably. “I was just thinking about what I’m going to wear tonight.”

  Jude rolled her tongue in her cheek. “Why? Because you wanna look hot in case Deke’s there?”

  “No.” Harper rolled her eyes. “What are we? Seventeen? Give me a break. I was not thinking about a man who dumped me thirteen years ago.”

  “Uh huh. Tell that to someone who doesn’t know how bad you had it for that guy.”

  Like she needed to be reminded. Being back in Carlton reminded her of nights with Deke she’d rather forget. First date. First kiss. First time she had sex. All of her firsts were wrapped up in just one man, and that made him hard to forget.

  “Yeah, like a hundred years ago, Jude.”

  “I know we’re old,” she said, slapping Harper’s thigh. “But we’re not that old.”

  Some days she felt like it. Maybe it was the fact that she spent her days teaching little ones that made Harper feel so old. Their energy and enthusiasm for life made her feel like she was missing out on all the fun.

  “What’s wrong?” Jude asked, frowning at her. “And don’t say nothing because I know that look.”

  “I don’t know.” She’d tried not to let her break-up get her down, telling herself that it was better she found out that Ty was a cheating asshat before the wedding, but there were days when it was hard
not to miss the years she’d wasted on him. “I just thought I’d be looking for a house and planning my honeymoon, not unemployed and sharing a shoebox with my bestie.” Knowing she sounded like an ungrateful, whiny brat, she added, “Not that I don’t love you for taking a homeless girl in.”

  Jude laughed. “You’re so dramatic. You had money saved. All the money you almost blew on a wedding. Thank God the D-bag saved you the expense.”

  Harper smiled. She liked her friend’s new nickname for her ex. D-bag. Jude snatched her phone off the table when it buzzed and her smile spread. “Guess who’s gonna be there tonight?”

  Uh oh. Jude’s sing-song voice usually meant Harper was in trouble. “I don’t think I wanna know.”

  “You knew you were gonna have to see him sometime. Might as well bite the bullet and get it over with.”

  She could have waited another day… or year. “Who says I have to see him again? Just because we live in the same town—”

  “There’s one grocery store,” Harper said, curling her fingers as she spoke. “One liquor store. One convenience store. One coffee shop. One post office. One gas station. One bar. One pizza joint—”

  “Okay, I get it. I would’ve run into him eventually.”

  Maybe it was better to see him again when they had their friends as a buffer. She had no idea how she expected him to act, but according to Jude her ex had a Kawasaki-sized chip on his shoulder. Not that he hadn’t in high school, but then he’d had good reason. An alcoholic father who beat him and his kid brother and a mother who turned a blind eye.

  “Let’s figure out what you’re going to wear,” Jude said, grabbing her hand. “Something hot.”

  “I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard,” Harper said, digging her heels in. “Or at all. It’s not like I want him back. The guy dumped me… like a lifetime ago.”

  “All the more reason to look hot tonight,” Jude said, reaching into the pocket of her denim shorts for a stick of her favorite watermelon gum. “Let him see what he’s been missing. Oh, and you should totally show off the tattoo.”

  “I want to forget I have it, remember?”

  If she didn’t mind wasting money she’d have it burnt off, but every dollar counted until she found steady work. Easier said than done in a town with one school.

  “Besides, I’d have to wear a bikini to show this thing off and I don’t intend to strut into the Scruffy Duck wearing—”

  “Okay, okay, you can show him later. In the bed of his pick-up truck.”

  Harper felt her cheeks burning. She’d lost her virginity in the bed of Deke’s pick-up truck and those words, pick-up truck, always made her feel sixteen again. That’s why she’d said ‘hell no’ when Tyler suggested buying one.

  “Are you ever gonna let me live that down?” Harper grumbled.

  It may sound cheesy to her best friend, but that had been one of the best nights of her life. The bed of that old pick-up truck under the stars, her favorite country song, a bottle of wine and the boy she loved. Life was good that night. Too bad it went downhill from there.

  “I’m just teasing ya,” Jude said, hip-checking her as they walked down the narrow hall to their bedrooms. “I give Deke a hard time about it too.”

  Harper gaped at her best friend. Was nothing sacred to this girl? “You talked to Deke about our first time? Are you crazy?” she hissed, tugging on Jude’s hand before she could enter Harper’s bedroom to raid her closet. “I told you that in confidence!”

  “Oh my God, we were closer than sisters back then. Like you weren’t gonna tell me every little detail.”

  Some things Harper had kept to herself. Like how sweet and gentle Deke had been. He’d had a well-earned reputation for being a bad-ass and she didn’t want anyone to know about the side of himself he’d shared only with her.

  “I still can’t believe he stayed here,” Harper said, allowing herself to be yanked into the small room. She collapsed on the double bed, face first, letting her feet dangle off the end. “He was the most talented artist I’ve ever seen.” Even if he did choose skin as his canvas. “He could’ve made it anywhere.”

  “Believe me, people come to him.” Jude pulled three denim skirts out of the closet: one faded blue, one black, and one white. “That’s the beauty of social media in his biz, I guess. Once you post your stuff online people start beating your door down. Last I heard he had a waiting list eighteen months long.”

  “Huh.” Good for him. In spite of their break-up Harper was happy to hear he’d made his dreams come true. After the crummy upbringing he’d had he earned a little security in his life, and to be recognized for his incredible talent.

  Harper watched her friend riffle through her clothes as she wondered whether the years had been kind to Deke. He’d been so sexy in high school. Well over six feet, longish black hair, broad shoulders, and gray-blue eyes she still saw in her dreams sometimes. Ugh. She was in trouble.

  “This works, don’t you think?” Jude held up a black tank top with a plunging neckline and white denim skirt. “The girls are still your best feature. Why not show them off?”

  It was a running joke between them. Jude wanted Harper’s big breasts and Harper wanted her friend’s long legs. But they’d agreed a long time ago to make the best of what God gave them.

  “I told you, I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard.” Or at all.

  “Relax, Deke’s not gonna know you’re getting all sexed up for him. You’re coming off a bad break-up. For all he knows you’re there to hook up with a random stranger.” Jude laughed. “You should totally do that. Hook up with some dude, just to see if you get a reaction out of Deke.”

  “Are you crazy?” Harper shrieked. “We’re not in high school anymore. I’m not into playing games. Besides, Deke wouldn’t care anyways.”

  “I bet he would.” Jude reached into the closet for a pair of turquoise beaded flip flops. “There’s only one way to find out. Test him.”

  Sometimes Harper thought she should have started all over in a town where no one knew her name. “Uh, I don’t think so.”

  “I love these earrings,” Jude said, holding up a pair of turquoise earrings with matching bracelet. “Can I borrow them sometime?”

  Harper would give them to her if she’d agree to stop talking about Deke and their failed relationship. “What’s mine is yours. You know that.”

  Chapter Two

  Deke didn’t know why he’d agreed to go out drinking tonight. He should be home taking care of his five year-old nephew, not out carousing, but when his best friend told him Harper would be there he couldn’t resist.

  He heard she’d rolled back into town after her fiancée cheated on her. Idiot. Deke couldn’t imagine anyone stupid enough to cheat on a woman like Harper. She was sweet, but sassy. A natural beauty who wasn’t afraid to get dirty. In and out of the bedroom. Just about perfect. Or at least she had been when they were kids. But that was a long time ago. For all he knew she’d become a bitter, chain-smoking shrew who dressed like a librarian but cursed like a trucker.

  “Here’s to making peace with the past,” Donski said, touching his long neck to Deke’s.

  Kyle Donski had been his best friend since they were eight years-old, trying to hide from the devil in their respective homes. Donski got him like no one else… except maybe Harper. He’d told that girl things he hoped she’d take to the grave.

  “If that’s possible.”

  He knew he owed it to Harper to try. The way he’d broken up with her had been messed up. Over the phone. After years together she deserved better. But knowing that she was moving on with her life without him was eating him up inside. The thought of her meeting other guys, maybe falling for someone else, was making him crazy. So he finally did the only thing he could. Ended it. For the sake of his sanity. And hers. He didn’t want to make her miserable the way his old man had made his mama miserable. She deserved better. He couldn’t give her much back then, but he could give her her freedom, s
o he did.

  “No way she still hates you after all these years, man.” Donski chuckled. “I know she’s a little spitfire, but—”

  “She was,” Deke said. “We don’t know anything about her now. That girl’s a stranger.”

  Except when she walked in and their eyes met it felt like he was looking into the eyes of… his soul mate. Damn. He hadn’t seen that coming.

  She was still gorgeous. Tiny, with rockin’ curves. Her ash blonde hair fell past her shoulders and when she flashed a smile as their friends bombarded her with questions, Deke felt like he’d been sucker-punched.

  Trying to ignore the scene playing out across the bar he reached for his beer. It took him three seconds to knock it back. He had his truck parked outside but his tattoo shop / apartment was only three blocks away so he could walk if it came to that.

  And after seeing Harper it just might come to that. He wasn’t a heavy drinker anymore. He tried to set a good example for his little nephew, but sometimes a man needed to forget about being a responsible adult for one night and let loose.

  “Damn,” Donski whispered. “Had no idea she’d look so good after all these years.”

  Deke swallowed as Donski’s words triggered a memory. Harper, when she was his girl, squealing when she heard Billy Joel’s song, Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, come on the radio. She’d tapped her bare feet on the dash of his old truck and sang every last word of her daddy’s favorite song at the top of her lungs. His heart twisted at the memory. They were so young. So much in love. They thought they were unbreakable. But Deke quickly found out he was a lot weaker than he thought he was, at least when it came to Harper.

  “Years have been good to her.” Deke’s voice was hoarse, the pain of all those memories lodged in his throat. He hadn’t expected to react this way. He was usually good at masking his feelings, his pain. Growing up in an abusive home taught him those lessons long before he’d learned to read.