Between Friends Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Between Friends

  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

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Sneak Peek for Behind the Stick

  Also by Sandra

  About the Author

  If you are reading this book and did not purchase it or win it from an author sponsored giveaway, this book has been pirated. Please delete it from your device, and support the author by purchasing a legal copy from one of its many distributors.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author except where permitted by law.

  Between Friends

  Published by Sandra Marie

  https://sandramarieauthor.wixsite.com/sweetsandra/

  Cover Design: Makeready Designs

  Editing: CookieLynn Publishing Services

  Formatting: CookieLynn Publishing Services

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2019 Sandra Marie

  All rights reserved.

  Rae wasn’t about to buy a vibrator just because she didn’t have the real thing, but as she looked at the three-thousand dollar coffee table that hosted an array of pleasure battery operated boyfriends, her fingers inched toward her wallet.

  “Oh, and for those of you who aren’t a huge fan of vibrations, we have a couple of thrusters here on the end.” Brandy, the Passion Parties consultant picked up something that looked more like an arm than male genitalia and pushed it into Rae’s hand. Rae pressed her lips together, holding in her laughter as the thing thrust in her palms.

  “And this is meant for a normal-sized vagina?” Rae joked, and a round of giggles went through the room. On her left was her pregnant best friend Frankie, who was squirting some sample lubricant on her wrist and smoothing it around with a very serious pull on her lips. On her right was a girl named Ginny, a tattoo client of Rae’s from a few months back. Ginny’s face was bright red, and she hid behind one of the throw pillows on the more-expensive-than-Rae’s-rent couch that sat in billionaire Ashton Mill’s apartment. A coffee-colored fluffy dog snoozed next to Ginny’s hip, covering Rae’s holey jeans in fur.

  It was a strange group, that was for sure. When Brandy begged Rae to host one of her parties mid-tattoo, Rae was kind of stuck tattooing her until she’d agreed. Brandy was a dedicated client, too. The least Rae could do was sit through a dildo demonstration and fork out some dough for a few new items to stock that drawer she opened once in a blue moon.

  It was only after Brandy left with her shiny new tattoo that Rae realized she had pretty much no girlfriends to invite to the thing. Frankie was the only one, but with her morning sickness, Rae wasn’t even sure she’d be able to make it. And she was definitely not doing a one-on-one.

  Cassidy snorted from the recliner, shaking a bright yellow vibrator in front of Lily May’s face. Lily May batted at it, letting out a twangy, southern laugh, and grabbed a blue thruster, battling it out like a XXX Star Wars film. Cassidy really was the reason there were so many women in the room.

  Rae grinned to herself, passing the arm-like thruster over to Ginny, who took it with shaking hands. After Brandy left the shop, Rae had asked Tommy—her best friend—if he’d be interested in going. He gave it a hard pass, but offered up Cassidy’s name. Cassidy was Tommy’s cousin’s girlfriend, and Rae was friendly with her, sure, but they’d never hung out, per se. From there, the group trickled into the one now dildo fighting, lube testing, and freaking out over sizes in Ashton Mills’ newly renovated penthouse.

  Cassidy invited Ginny, who invited her roommate Lauren. Lily May found out and invited herself and offered up her boyfriend’s place since he was out of town. Rae was more than happy to take her up on it; Rae’s place was a dump, and it barely fit two people, let alone seven.

  Ginny passed the arm over to Lauren on the floor, who took it a little too enthusiastically and started examining the charging port. Rae kicked her feet up underneath her and raised her hand.

  “Got anything for the guys? Frankie needs gift ideas,” she asked, half-jokingly. Frankie swatted at her hip; Rae’d been teasing her all night about getting Alex, Frankie’s fiancé, a toy for Valentine’s Day. Hey, if Rae couldn’t buy some bedroom toys for a significant other, she was going to tease mercilessly those who could. It was her coping mechanism for being hopelessly in love with a guy who was either so damn clueless or was too nice to tell her he didn’t reciprocate. She assumed the latter.

  “I sure do!” Brandy squeaked. She ducked down into her bag and came back up with a ring pinched between her thumb and forefinger. “Vibrating penis rings,” she said proudly. “Here, Frankie… stick out two fingers.”

  Frankie’s eyes bulged, and Rae grabbed Frankie’s wrist and shoved it toward Brandy. Brandy slipped the rubber ring down like she was proposing and slid a switch on the side.

  “Whoa!” Frankie said with a laugh.

  Rae snorted and flung her head back. “Think Alex will like that?”

  Red splashed Frankie’s cheeks, but she grinned. “Do they come in bigger sizes?”

  The girls laughed, and Lily May raised her hand. “I need an extra large, too!” Brandy then demonstrated how they stretch to fit men of all sizes, and it was all Rae could do to not make a penis joke every five seconds.

  Ginny’s dog shifted next to her, and Ginny swapped out the pillow for the puppy. The corners of her mouth tilted slightly up, but she seemed nervous and a bit jumpy. She’d been that way in the tattoo chair, from what Rae remembered, but she’d slowly relaxed while holding the hand of her hottie tottie boyfriend.

  “Hey,” Rae said, keeping her voice low while the other girls kept busy with more boyfriend toys. It wasn’t like Rae needed to pay attention to those. “You doing all right, there?”

  Ginny tucked the strands of her long brown and pink highlighted hair behind her ear. “I… Well, I want to learn about this stuff. It’s a bit… I suppose, overwhelming. I guess.”

  “Virgin?” Rae asked as if it wasn’t such a personal thing, but hey, they were at a sex party after all. Ginny nodded and fiddled with a vibrating penis ring. Rae held back a laugh at the irony. “Hey, don’t give it too much thought. All this stuff is flair and fluff in the bedroom. First times, even fiftieth times, don’t need it in order for it to be good.”

  Ginny’s brows pulled together. “Then, why…?”

  “They can make it fun.” Rae tilted her head. “From what I’ve heard. There ain’t no way I’m sticking an entire arm up here, though.” They shared a small laugh, and Ginny’s shoulders relaxed a bit. She switched the vibration on the ring in her hand, jolting the dog in her lap.

  “Steven might like this. Maybe.”

  “You might, too.” Rae passed on testing out the penis ring,
but Lauren took it right away and studied it with the same concentration she’d given every other toy, almost like she was writing a paper on them or something.

  A click came from behind them, and all heads whipped around to the door.

  “Make sure the meeting on Tuesday is moved from four to six. I’m not sure we’ll be…” Ashton Mills, billionaire of the city and owner of the penthouse they were currently occupying froze in the doorway, his suitcase slipping to the floor with a thunk. Alex, Frankie’s fiancé and Ashton’s personal assistant, stood next to him, mouth dropping open. Frankie lifted her hand, penis ring vibrating her engagement diamond as she waved.

  “Hey, sugar!” Lily May piped up, pushing off the floor to her knees, her dress swaying. “You’re back early.”

  Ashton’s eyes swooped from his girlfriend to the coffee table display of pleasure toys over to the bar that hosted every lube known to man. He blinked, nodded like he wasn’t that surprised to be walking into something like this, and picked up his suitcase and walked right back out. The back of his neck was fiery red as he left, and Rae couldn’t help but crack up. Her laughter was contagious, and every girl caught it immediately.

  Alex’s lip lifted in the corner, and he shook his head at Frankie. “Get some of the warming stuff,” he said, hitching a thumb toward the lubricants. “We’re almost out.”

  Then he followed his boss, closing the door behind him.

  “Oh, heavens to Betsy,” Lily May said, slouching back to the floor with a grin. “I’m gonna owe him big time after all this.”

  Rae snatched up the sexy coupons and tossed them over. Lily May flipped through them with interest, and then told Brandy to add it to her tab.

  “Let’s go to our couples collection,” Brandy said, pulling out another suitcase. “How many of you have a significant other?”

  All hands but Rae’s shot into the air, proudly displaying their lack of singledom.

  “Do cats count?” Rae joked, which got a round of laughter. Rae hated cats, but mostly because they were often attached to the old maid theory. If Rae was doomed to be single for the rest of her life, she’d be the cool old maid with tattoos and a python.

  Brandy started displaying the couple toys, and Frankie leaned forward, wincing a bit from the uncomfortable adjustment to her miniscule baby bump. Even Ginny eyed the display on the table, curiosity dancing across her face. Rae got up and grabbed a drink from the bar.

  She tapped her fingers on the bar top, tilting her head at a flavored lubricant. Mint ice cream… Wouldn’t that… sting? She imagined it’d be a lot like squirting a tube of toothpaste on precious parts. Minty fresh!

  She smirked and tipped her glass back. They’d gone alcohol free for Frankie, and the sparkling apple cider was yummy, but not exactly cutting it.

  Rae knew eventually her friends would pair off and find their soulmates and have babies and blah, blah, barf. But did it have to happen so fast? Frankie was pregnant, dating, and engaged all in the course of a month. Jon, Tommy’s cousin, signed up for the exact dating site as her, at the same time, and bang, two weeks later, he was in love with Cassidy. It was only a matter of time before Tommy found his one and only, and that thought dug into her gut and twisted, wringing her out of air and happiness.

  Tommy was her soulmate, but they weren’t romantic, nor would they ever be. Rae said goodbye to that pipedream, but remained a masochist by clinging to his hip twenty-four-seven.

  Still… what would happen to her when everyone else moved on? Would she still be the one cracking jokes in the group, going home alone?

  She was definitely not getting a cat, that was for sure.

  “Okay, here’s one of our most popular products,” Brandy said, jolting Rae from her thoughts. Brandy pulled out a small perfume bottle and shook it next to her dimpled cheek. “This awesome stuff here smells differently on every person. It reacts with your pheromones to attract the opposite sex on a primal level. So like, it may smell flowery on me and fruity on you.”

  “Like in Harry Potter!” Cassidy squealed. “Love potion stuff, right?”

  “Um… sure,” Brandy said. Whatever made a sale, right? She passed the bottle to Cassidy, who sprayed generously.

  “That’s enough,” Lily May said, fanning the air around them, her eyes watering. “And you smell like gouda.”

  “Cheese?” Cassidy furiously wiped at her neck. “No wonder I couldn’t get a guy for so long.”

  “Is Jon a fan of cheese?” Lily May teased, testing out the spray on her wrist and pushing it toward Cassidy.

  “Of course you smell like cotton candy,” Cassidy said, tossing her arms into the air. The perfume got passed around eagerly after that, and Rae plopped back into her spot between Ginny and Frankie.

  Apparently, Rae smelled like peaches and cream, so she dove for her wallet and paid a ridiculous amount for the Harry Potter love potion. Anything to hedge her bets on getting a date for Valentine’s Day.

  Everyone ended up buying a bottle—minus Cassidy—and Rae picked up a few other items in case Valentine’s Day was a bust, and she ended up spending the evening alone. She wasn’t one to shy away from pleasure city, but she preferred it with a partner.

  Brandy wrapped up the party, and the girls gathered their things. Ginny ended up with a small bag of goodies, and Rae wished her luck.

  “T-thanks,” she said, hoisting her dog up against her chest. “I’m not sure when I’ll use them, but… it’s good to be prepared.”

  It was baffling she was still a virgin with that boyfriend of hers. Rae would be all over that in a hot second, but to each their own. Ginny seemed the type to ease into everything, while being around Rae’s daredevil best friend required Rae to be more headfirst in things.

  Since Rae was technically the host, she stayed behind to help clean and pack up. She needed more girl’s days, that was for sure. Minus the ten second boy interruption, it was the first time she’d hung out with just a group of gals probably since high school. Maybe she should implement a Galentine’s Day every year.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Brandy said after clean up, tossing her arms around Rae’s shoulders. “I made so many sales, and it means so much. This was my first party. Did I do okay? Like, I owe you a million times over.”

  “It was fun,” Rae said, tossing an empty bottle of cider into the recycling bin. “Maybe we make this an annual thing.”

  Brandy’s eyes widened. “Yes! And maybe this time next year you’ll be browsing the couples collection with the rest of us.” She winked, and Rae knew she was trying to be friendly, but she was sick of hearing it. Yeah, maybe one day you’ll find someone. It could happen! Blargh.

  Rae thanked Lily May for offering up Ashton’s penthouse, grabbed her things, and headed down to parking. Now that she had a bag full of toys, she realized she didn’t even really want any of them. No matter how strong the perfume, she’d need a damn miracle to get someone to fall in love with all this.

  Tommy sat in the tattoo chair at his shop, Tommy’s Tats, pushing the financial books away from him with his free hand. Rae had slapped them on the side table when she’d taken a seat to work on his newest tattoo, giving him a look like he never gave the finances a second thought. But really, why should he? She was on top of that shit, and there weren’t any monkey suit creditors after him. He called that a win.

  “So, how was the sex party?” Tommy asked Rae as she ran the tattoo gun over the top of his sleeve. He was full-on smirk, his spirits light and easy on the cool February morning. Rae looked like she’d just walked out of a wind tunnel, her pixie red hair sticking every which way. Her blue eyes met his briefly before her focus fell to her artwork.

  “Jealous, Thomas?” she teased with her signature laugh. It was the least cute laugh in the world—giggle, giggle, snort—and one Tommy liked to elicit from her every chance he got. “Did you need a new butt plug?”

  “Oh, I’m jealous,” he said, side-stepping her joke. “Room full of toys and women?” He ki
ssed his fingertips like a chef after serving up one of his best dishes, and Rae pressed a little too hard with the tattoo gun.

  “It wasn’t an orgy,” she said. “Besides, they’re all taken.”

  “Even Brandy?” He deflated, pretending that it actually disappointed him. Rae gave that eye-roll of hers he got—and deserved—daily, and he focused in on her design work. She was tattooing his adventure with a pit of zombies that past Halloween, in which he broke the very arm she was working on. His skin was covered in all his stupid decisions that turned epic, including naked ice skating, jumping from a cruise ship into ice cold ocean water, shark swimming, and building scaling. His arm was a canvas of his life, and he ached to put skydiving on the list. He’d saved a spot for it on his shoulder blade, and this year, he was gonna do it.

  “My clients are off limits,” Rae said, bringing his attention back to the top of her head. “They get near you, and I’ll never tattoo their skin again.”

  “Can’t help my magnetism.”

  “Or your mouth.”

  “Part of my charm, Rae Rae.”

  “Is that what you call it?”

  He chuckled, trying not to move too much while the needle was running over his skin. Rae always got the last dig—always. And he didn’t mind in the slightest. It was part of her charm.

  Rae sat back and wiped the excess ink off, blowing out a happy sigh. Her mouth tilted up in a satisfied grin, and she rolled away, tucking the gun in its place. “Do I need to go over instructions with you, or are you just going to ignore them?”

  “Hardy har.” He pushed from the chair and checked out his newest addition. She really captured the look of horror on his face when he realized those zombies were not going to let him crowd surf. “Damn.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment, since I probably won’t get one,” she teased, snapping her glove off. He was actually going to tell her how great it looked, but since she said that, he zipped his mouth.

  After Rae bandaged the sucker up, she fixed her hair and went to the front to open up the shop. Something was off about her today, and he’d be damned if she was a sourpuss around him. His specialty was cheering her up, and she likewise for him.