Fuck me! This chick had it all happening and was all over me, and I still felt no desire to go there with her. My mind went into overdrive; what the hell caused this shit to happen to a man? In my thirty-five years, I’d never once had lack of interest issues.

I started to move away from her when a hand curled around my bicep and a warm body pushed itself into my front. “Nash is with me tonight. Sorry, hon.”

And at that sultry voice, my desire jumped to attention.

Velvet.

She had her arm around me, and was engaging in some kind of girl warfare with the other chick. I waited to see where this all ended up.

Finally, the chick huffed out a breath and muttered something under her breath about sluts and strippers that I didn’t quite catch before she turned and stalked away from us. Velvet loosened her hold on me a little and turned to look up at me. I raised my eyebrows at her but didn’t utter a word. I was still mentally dealing with my malfunctioning desire.

“What?” she asked, her eyebrows raised back at me. “You needed rescuing so I rescued you.” She let go of me completely, and the pussy in me wanted to reach out and pull her back.

I nodded. “Thanks, sweetheart. Means a lot to me.” The words dribbling out of my mouth were not in my control. Nothing I was saying or doing was in my fucking control tonight.

She gave me a strange look that I couldn’t comprehend and then said, “Sure thing. But you should go now before she tries to latch on again.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you later,” I muttered, and then exited the club before I fucked anything else up tonight.

***

An hour later, I found myself at Scott’s house.

“Hey brother,” he answered the door, surprised. “What’s up?”

I pushed past him, and started walking down his hallway. “Nothing’s up, just felt like some company.”

He chuckled. “I’m not really your standard type of company, am I?”

I scowled at him. “You’ll fuckin’ do for tonight.”

“Trouble in Nash paradise?”

“Yeah, fuck you, asshole. Just make me a coffee,” I grumbled and sat at his kitchen table.

Laughing, he did as I’d demanded, and then sat with me. “What’s wrong, man? You’ve been off lately.”

Scott was a perceptive guy, often sensing when shit wasn’t right with people. I’d always managed to stay off his radar; probably because my shit was packed so deep in my soul that even I didn’t feel it. But the last decade was catching up with me, and I could feel myself slowly falling apart. And for the first time in those ten years, I didn’t know what to do.

I exhaled in frustration and anxiety, my heart hammering in my chest as I contemplated letting the monsters out. I’d locked them away for so long that just thinking about them distressed me. Talking about them scared the fuck out of me. “Do you have things in your past that no-one really knows about? Things that you don’t even want to know about?”

“Brother, I’ve got things in my life now that I don’t want to know about, let alone shit that happened years ago.”

“Yeah,” I murmured, lost in my thoughts.

“You need to talk about it?”

The concern in his voice was clear; I knew I could trust Scott but I didn’t trust myself with this stuff yet. I shook my head. “No, I’m good. Just been thinking about shit lately.”

We sat in silence for awhile. It was exactly what I needed and the anxiety I’d been feeling started to ease out of me. Once I had myself under control, I eyed him and asked, “You ever had a problem with your dick not working?”

Surprise flickered on his face and he smirked. “Never thought I’d hear that shit come out of your mouth.”

“Yeah, yeah. But fuck man, have you?”

“Can’t say I have, Nash.”

“Shit.”

“Yours giving you grief?” The bastard was laughing at me.

“Not my dick so much but my desire to use it. First time it’s ever happened so you could say I’m a little concerned.”

“Maybe Velvet was on to something when she said she was worried your dick would need resuscitating soon.”

“What the fuck?”

“She told me that she’d said something to you about screwing every chick in sight.”

“Fuck, why can’t women keep stuff to themselves?”

He shrugged. “Beats the shit outta me too, brother.”

I stood up to leave. I’d gotten what I’d come here for.

Scott followed me out. “Shit, I forgot to tell you that Harlow’s cooking lunch for everyone tomorrow. She wants you here.”

“What time?” Nobody passed up a meal cooked by Harlow.

“Around twelve.”

I slapped him on the back. “Thanks, man. I’ll be there.”

I avoided the thought that Velvet would also be at lunch. And how fucking happy that made me.

***

Velvet

I stood back and watched quietly as everyone greeted Nash. He’d arrived nearly an hour late for lunch and Harlow was giving him grief. I was dealing with the thought that I’d been disappointed he was late. It shouldn’t have affected me that much, but it did.

He finished hugging Harlow and caught my eye as he pulled out of the embrace. A slight smile touched his lips before he shifted his attention to Madison. He reached out and dragged her into a tight hug, whispering something in her ear that made her laugh. A pang of jealousy hit me, and I quickly turned away and headed into the kitchen to escape the unwelcome feelings I was having.