“And your reason for having a mad-on.”

I exhale and look at him like he’s nuts because, let’s face it, he kind of is. “What?”

“Mad-on, bro.” He takes the one hitter and taps the ash out before packing it up again. “You can’t tap that ass, so instead of a hard-on resulting in a set of blue balls, you get a fucking mad-on.”

“Mad-on.” I lean against the white stucco wall and shake my head. “Not mad at all.”

“You wanna tap that, though,” he says, before sparking up the tiny pipe and inhaling.

“Her ass is nice.”

“Yeah, it is,” he says as he inhales deeper.

“You steer clear.”

He coughs out the smoke and laughs as the door opens. He shoves the one hitter deep in his pocket and smirks as Finn and Billy walk out.

“You ready?” Finn hisses.

“Let me change,” River says, then looks at me and laughs, and hell if I don’t laugh, too. “Black, you’re in your underwear still.”

I look down and laugh harder. “Looks good, though, right?”

“Looks really good.” He winks.

“Fuck you.”

“Good enough that I’m thinking I wouldn’t mind tapping in the front, and you in the back of—”

“You may not want to finish that sentence. I don’t do double rainbow,” I say as I walk inside to change.

“Daisy chain.” He chuckles, following me inside.

“Shut the hell up, man.”

“The four of us, DVDA,” he says, still laughing.

“DVDA’ing your mother.” I push him.

“She likes that shit, man.”

As soon as we walk in, I see Tally standing at the end of the counter with her back turned.

“Three blocks, thank you.” She continues, “How much a night?”

I haul ass in front of her, take her phone, and hang it up.

“What are you doing?”

I grab a quarter off the counter. “Heads, you go. Tales, you stay.”

“Memphis, it’s—”

“Heads, you go. Tails, you stay,” I repeat,

She shakes her head then says, “Fine.”

I flip the coin, and it lands on tails. “Go get changed.”

“Memphis—” She looks around and stops as she spots River out of her peripheral.

“I’ll back off. Shit, Tales, I thought you were all badass now, being a New Yorker and all.”  Fuck, I hope she bought that.

She looks skeptical, and I know damn well I fucked up. And, well, I’m buzzing pretty hard now, but I feel much less wound up, kind of chillz.

“Promise me.”

“Damn, girl, I was fucking with you. Not like I really need to work at gaining panty access, Tales. Women throw that shit at me.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” What the hell does okay mean?

“Yes, but I’m not going to the beach with you guys.”

“Like hell.” I laugh, but she’s not having it.

Her shoulders square up a bit, and she stands taller. If I push any harder, she will be at a hotel, and that will land me on the shit list with Mads. I am being fucking ridiculous. There are hundreds—hell, thousands—of women I can have in my bed without issue.

“Fine. Help yourself to anything in the fridge, and if you need anything, I’ll send the boat back to give you a lift to the beach.” I grab a pen and the pad of paper, then write down my number and hand it to her.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah.” I stare too long; I know I do because she gets squirmy, so I take off to my room to dress.

When I come out, she is on the phone again.

“You’re staying, right?”

She pushes mute and whispers, “My mom.”

There is sadness in her eyes, and I feel even more like a turd. I can’t imagine losing my old man, but if I hang out, she will think I’m trying to fuck her because, well, I would really like to be between her legs, but it’s Tally. Tally all grown up, and Tally hot as hell, and Tally—fuck! Note to self: chillz is evil with a capital E.

“You need something?” she asks.

“No, but we’ll be right—”

She nods. “I know.”

I give her a nod then pull my shades down, covering my eyes before forcing my sorry ass out the door.  I must seem like that one guy with the gun and red shirt, the one who hates books and hunts and is all hot over that chick in the blue dress and white apron. I laugh because I’m fucked up, wondering why they didn’t make the douche sport wood in the cartoon while chasing after that beast—Beauty and the Beast. Yeah, that’s the movie.

“You ready yet?”

I snap back to reality when I look up at Finn.

“Fuck, yes, I’m ready. When am I ever not ready? Hell, I’m always ready.”

“You shouldn’t touch that shit, man. Makes you act like him.” He thumbs behind him at River.

“Fuck you, Finn,” River snaps.

River hands me a beer. “Chaser?”

“Don’t remind him that he already almost drove that poor girl out of here,” Billy says, only half joking.

“Back off, Billy. She’s a good girl.”

“I’m a good boy, the best behaved one—”

“I swear to God above, man, if you touch that—” I step to him, and River slaps my chest, stopping me.

“You calling lead on her?” River smirks.

“I’m calling, if you touch her—any one of you—I’ll kill you.” I look them all in the eyes. They are a little taken aback—okay, a lot taken aback. “She’s my sister’s best friend.”

“That you went all caveman on and—”

“I was fucked up,” I defend.

“Not this morning you weren’t,” Finn points out as we walk down the beach.

I ignore the comment. So I’m an ass, but I will not be concentrating on her ass. As fucking perfect as it may be, I will focus fully on the ones sprawled out, soaking up the Florida sun.

The boat is on the dock, waiting for us. Talk about service; we get to ride in style.

We take off and pass the other yachts and boats anchored in the bay.

“Look around, men. There is a lot to take in right here and right now. Fuck this morning.” Don’t need the drama, anyway. It’s not like she’d want it any different than I give to the rest of them. I’m a fucking experience… My leather is not made of the boyfriend material, girls like Tallia want.

Ten minutes later, we’re docked, and River dives in.

When he pops up out of the water, he laughs. “Let’s go.”

None of us follow his lead; we all take the short walk down the dock right to the white sand and hot as hell chicks. River is walking out of the water, and all eyes are glued to his crazy ass. Leave it to him to take the path much less taken.

“Damn, check out that little peach,” River says when he meets up with us, running his hands back and forth through his hair, ridding it of some of the Atlantic. He points to a chick laid out on a beach towel, all oiled up, top already undone, and she is turning around to lie on her back.

“Oh, fuck no.” I almost laugh as we get past her, heading for the volleyball net.

“Sascrotch,” Finn mumbles under his breath.

We all bust up laughing.

“She’s hot and all, but who the fuck doesn’t look in the mirror and see they need a fucking trim before—”

“That’s more than a trim, man; that would require a bush hog.” I laugh.

“She’s a moped,” River chimes in. “I’d ride the hell out of her for fun, but I sure as fuck wouldn’t want any one of you to see me on her.”

“Hair grows there for a reason,” Billy says.

“So does facial hair, man, but you trim that shit so you don’t look like a mountain man or a—”

“Bah, bah.” River laughs. “Billy goat.”

As soon as he leaves the house, I uncover the phone, hoping Mom didn’t hear him.

“Tally, was that Memphis Black I heard?”

Well, I guess that cat was out of the bag.

“Yep, he is here, Mom.”

“How is he? Has he changed? Has the—?”

“He’s the same, just older,” I lie, hoping she doesn’t notice.

“Can you ask him why on Earth a nice boy like him would agree to a band name like,” she whispers, “STD?”

“I’ll ask,” I say to appease her, but there is no way I will ask him that question. “Okay, Mom, I’m going to the beach now. I love you and will call in a couple days.”