Free PassionsPoison by Lexi Post

excuse to get
out of the lab. What’s up?”
    Zach took another swallow of beer. “Nothin’.”
    “Don’t give me that shit. It’s not hunting season and the
ice fishing derby is over, so it must be personal.”
    Zach shifted in his seat. His friend knew him too well.
“Hey, I usually invite you when there’s something to keep you entertained. It’s
not as if my life is that exciting. But I figured, what the hell.”
    “Mmm-hmm and I’m a crab apple tree. Zach, we’ve known each
other for more than thirty years now. What’s up?”
    Zach wiped the sweat from his beer glass. “I guess it’s a
woman.”
    “You guess?”
    “Yeah, I guess. I just met her Monday.”
    Josh counted on his fingers. “You’ve known her five days and
already you think she’s special? That’s not your usual modus operandi .”
    Zach took another gulp of beer. “My what? Never mind, I
don’t think I want to know. And I didn’t say she was special. The thing is, we
met on Monday, had mind-blowing sex on Wednesday and I haven’t heard from her
since.”
    Josh let out a low whistle. “Sounds like a one-night stand
to me, but your limit is three, so you want your two more, don’t you?”
    Zach looked away.
    “Ah, that’s it. It’s fine for you to call it quits but not
her. Okay, I get it. So did you call her?”
    Zach shook his head.
    Josh tipped his beer and swallowed. “Oh man, you’re kidding
me. You have some hottie, she is a hottie right, ’cause you always get hotties,
and you haven’t called her?”
    Zach kept silent. His friend, with his elongated face and
thin six-foot-four frame resembled Lurch from The Addams Family and didn’t catch many dates, despite being a doctor and a great scientist.
    Josh finished his beer and signaled to Tracy for two more.
“I’m flattered you called me, but there’s a simple solution to this dilemma,
Zach. You know what it is, but for some reason you aren’t acting on it. You
don’t need a biochemical doctorate to know you need to pick up your phone and
call her.”
    Zach took the beer Tracy handed him and watched the foam
disintegrate. Great, now he’d insulted Josh’s intelligence and still didn’t
have the guts to call her. “Isn’t she supposed to call me? That’s usually what
happens. You know, women are much more vocal about what they want. If she
hasn’t called me, obviously she doesn’t want to see me again.”
    Josh set his beer down with a thud, foam sloshed over the
side and puddled on the bar. “Wake up, man. Even I know every woman is
different. If you want to see her, call her. If you don’t, I guarantee you’ll
never see her again.”
    Josh could be right. Bea was confident and insecure at the
same time. Maybe she was old-fashioned and needed him to call her. “You’re
right, I’ll call her now.”
    “Good man. While you do that, I’m going to troll for
chicks.”
    Zach pointed across the room. “Uh, Josh, if you want to do
that, we’d better go somewhere else.”
    Josh looked around the small bar.
    Zach chuckled as realization dawned on his friend’s face.
There were maybe fifteen cocktail tables with chairs and the bar. In total
there were eighteen men and one woman—the lady at the bar was part of a couple
if the way she had her leg on her companion’s lap was any indication. The old
“make her come at the bar in public” scenario going on. He’d like to do that
with Bea. The thought caused his cock to pay attention. Hell. Grabbing his
phone, he stalked outside.
    The air was sharp and fresh, but cold, so he zipped his
hoody. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and fished out Bea’s card. The
ever present white Christmas lights on the bar’s porch gave him enough light to
read her phone number. He dialed and held his breath.
    “Good evening, Lakeside Inn, Beatrice Rappaccini.”
    “What are you doing there so late?” Okay, maybe not the best
beginning.
    “Huh? Zach, is that you?”
    He couldn’t help being concerned. “Yeah, why