Title: Striving for
Acceptance
Series: Striving #3
Author: B.L. Mooney
Release Date: December
26, 2014
Synopsis
Third in the Striving Series, but can be
read alone.
We all want to feel accepted, but
sometimes we do
unacceptable things. When we
push it too far and do the unforgivable, are we
still allowed to hope for that
acceptance?
Or are we doomed to accept a life of
loneliness?
My current bed friend is someone who’s
struggling to find
his own acceptance. His big
crime? He’s following his dreams. His father can’t
accept the fact he no longer
wants to follow in his footsteps. Should he be
shut out because he quit the
family business? I don’t think so. But if he
should, I’ve got bigger
problems.
My crime?
I cheated on my husband and then killed
the man I cheated
with. Would you still accept
me?
Ages
18+ due to adult situations
and violence.
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Excerpt
“Could you hand me another clay pot,
please?” I was crouched down,
getting the displays ready for opening day. Never
mind it was still three weeks
away. I needed to keep busy.
The pot appeared before me and I grabbed
it.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
I turned my
head to the male voice and was
inches from a bulge I’d gotten
used to having in my face. I hadn’t seen what
the bulge was made of yet, but
he sure liked thrusting it in my face every
chance he
could.
I snipped the shears I had in my hand.
“You’re very brave to come
that close.” He backed up. “That’s what I
thought.”
I stood and looked at him. His curly blond
hair needed a cut, as usual,
and the smirk on his face needed to be smacked
off. I tilted my head to the
side and wondered what he would look like without
the scruff he tried to pass
off as a beard. Why
should I care what he would
look like?
I shook my
head.
“What do you need, Mick? I’m
busy.”
“I just thought I’d see if you needed
help.”
“As I’ve told you the other fifty times
you’ve come over, no. I’ve got
everything under control.”
He rocked back on his heels and looked
around. “It does look
good.”
“Thank
you.”
My
sister, Rachael, came from the back and
smiled. We were complete
opposites. She had long, wavy blonde hair while my
hair was black and cut short.
You might have been able to tell we were from the
same gene pool if I showed my
body off the way she did, but I liked to keep
things a little more under
wraps compared to her curve-hugging style. Besides,
I’d always been the more
casual type and she was all about the latest styles.
It looked good on her, but
I’ve got better things to worry about than
clothes.
The other thing which set us apart was the
fact she was friendly. I
wasn’t. “Hey, Mick, what brings you
over?”
“Just being
neighborly.”
I rolled my eyes and turned to work on
another display. “We’ve got
it. Thanks for stopping by.”
Rachael waited until he left. “You’re not
very nice to
him.”
“He isn’t
someone I want to be nice to.”
“I think you could be very nice to each
other.” She smiled. “I’ve
tried to get Carl to grow some scruff like that. It’s
sexy. The least you could do
is play nice with him and tell me if
it—”
“Look, he’s the lease-holder. I don’t need
to be caught up in that. Plus,
he’s a little rude, always pushing his cock in
my
face.”
Her hands fell to her sides. “Excuse
me?”
“Yes, it’s always
there.”
She smiled. “Maybe you’re just always
looking.”
“Don’t you have to pick up
Amy?”
“Shit.” She looked at her watch. “I really
do, but this conversation
isn’t over.”
I mumbled, “It is for
me.”
~*~
I had just finished wiping down the counter
even though I’d already
cleaned it a dozen times. I wasn’t ready to go home. I
wanted to make sure it was
perfect for opening day.
There was a small tap on the door. “Let me
in already!” Mick
yelled.
I rolled my eyes and walked over to the
door. “It’s unlocked. Just
open—” I opened it to see him balancing two plates
and two glasses of wine. He
walked past without an invitation. “What are you
doing?”
“Come over and help
me.”
Curiosity got the better of me. I walked
over and watched as he turned
his ass to me. “Take out the tablecloth, will
you? It’s a little big, but if
you keep it folded in half, it should fit the
counter.”
I took the
tablecloth from his back pocket
and laid it out as he said to.
“What are you doing?”
“Dinner.” He set the plates and glasses
down. “You never leave for
dinner or have anything ordered in.” He looked me
over. “You’re too
thin.”
I placed my hands on my hips. “Excuse
me?”
“You need to keep your strength up if
you’re going to run a company
by yourself. You need to take care of yourself or
you have no business taking
care of anything else.”
He handed me a napkin with a fork and knife
and pointed to the plate. I
watched him grab a couple of stools for us. “Eat.”
He sat on his stool and dug
in. “Are you going to tell me you don’t like
steak?”
I shook my head. I sat down and looked at
the steak, baked potato, and
green beans. “I’m just trying to figure out what
your motive
is.”
“Money.”
I looked up. “You want me to pay you for
this.”
“No, I want you to pay for your lease, and
you can’t do that if you run
yourself down.” He took another bite and pointed
at my plate.
“Eat.”
I
could live with that answer. It was
honest and impersonal, so I
liked it. I started eating. “This is really
good.”
“Thanks.”
“How did you keep it
warm?”
“I don’t live far.”
“Oh.”
We sat in silence and finished our meal. It
wasn’t uncomfortable. The
sounds of the utensils against the plates filled the
air and before I knew it, I
had cleaned the plate.
“See, you feel better now, don’t
you?”
I allowed a small smile. “I do. Thank
you.”
He nodded and looked around. “It’s
remarkable how good this place
looks. You’ve done a great
job.”
“Thanks. Thank you for dinner, too.”
He turned
back to me and smiled. “You’re
welcome.”
A police car with lights and sirens went by
and I started shaking. He
noticed. “I’m going to take the plates to the back
and rinse them off for you,
but I don’t have any detergent to clean
them.”
He held my hand and stopped me from taking
his plate. “What’s
wrong?”
“Oh, it just startled me, is all. I’ll be
right
back.”
He allowed me to go to the back with the
dishes. I set them in the sink
and took a deep breath while I hung my head and
leaned on the counter. I
wondered if Al was available. It made it easier after
I moved into Rachael’s
apartment to see her neighbor down the hall, but it also
made it more difficult to
avoid him. I needed to forget life for a while and he
always helped me with that,
but he had started to want too much. I just wanted
sex.
“Hey.” Mick came into the back, scaring me.
I jumped, dropping the knife
in the sink. “I’m sorry. You were just back here a
little longer than I thought
it would take to rinse
plates.”
“I must be tired.” I grabbed a hand towel
and dried the plates. “They
still need soap, but at least you won’t get
anything
dirty.”
“Thanks.” He looked back out to the front.
“Do you want to talk about
it?”
“No. There’s
nothing to talk about.” I
walked around him and took the
plates to the counter. He had already folded the
tablecloth.
“Okay, but I’m a pretty good
listener.”
“I’m not good at talking. Just ask my
sister.”
He smiled. “I’m not, either. I think that’s
what makes me a good
listener.” He looked around. “Well, I think I’ll get out
of your way and let you go
home. You need to rest up for your big
day.”
I laughed. “That’s a lot of resting. It’s
still a few weeks out.” What I
needed wasn’t rest. I checked my watch. Al went
to bed early, and I needed to
catch him before he went to
sleep.
He pointed to my watch. “Do you have
somewhere you need to
be?”
“Not exactly. I wanted to catch a friend
before he went to
sleep.”
“He?”
“I’m allowed to have male
friends.”
“I never said you
couldn’t.”
“It was
implied.”
He raised an eyebrow. “From one
word?”
“It was the
tone.”
He
tilted his head forward. “The tone was
surprise that you liked the
male species.”
“Occasionally.”
“I’m a lot
closer.”
“To what?”
He stepped
up to me but didn’t touch me.
“For what you need your friend
for.”
We stood there staring at each other. He
was probably wondering if I
was going to take him up on his offer, and I was
wondering if he was serious.
It didn’t matter. I couldn’t get involved and risk
losing the shop, no matter how
promising the bulge he constantly put in front
of me
was.
“You have no idea what I need my friend
for.”
He walked me backwards until I hit the
counter. “You want him to take
care of your needs. Needs you suddenly have ever
since that cop car went
blaring by. You need him to help you forget life for a
while, to make you feel good,
and protected.” He leaned in and whispered in my
ear. “Deny
it.”
I swallowed as he leaned in more, pressing
his body to mine and reaching
behind me to grab the dishes. I closed my eyes
when he walked away. The
breath I had been holding was finally released. Al
better not have gone to sleep
yet.
~*~
I unlocked my door and threw my purse on
the chair. I wanted to take a
shower before I went to Al’s. He didn’t care if I
came over dirty from working
in the shop, but I cared. Before I got to the
bathroom, there was a knock on
my door. I smiled; only one person knocked like
that. He could shower with
me.
I opened the door and smiled even wider.
“Hey, I was just going to jump
in the shower and head over, but you can come in
with me. My back needs
washing.”
He stepped in, but didn’t look happy. “Deb,
we need to
talk.”
I lowered my head and shut the door. I was
dreading this day, the day he
demanded more than sex. I turned and looked at
the guy I’d spent the last
several months with but knew very little about. That
was how I wanted to keep
it.
He was blond, dumb, and a great fuck.
That’s all I needed to know
and all I wanted to know. I was going to miss the
orgasms he could give me.
Fuck. “Al, we’ve talked about
this.”
“No, actually.” He looked at the package in
his hands. “I met
someone.”
I took a step back. I hadn’t expected that.
“You
did?”
“Yeah, and I want to be exclusive with
her.” He handed me the
package.
“What’s
this?”
“A goodbye gift.” He rubbed the back of his
neck with his hand. “Don’t
open it until I leave, but I feel bad about this.”
I put the
box on the side table and hugged
him. “Do not feel bad at all.
I’m very happy for you.”
He hugged me back. “You
are?”
“Of course.” I backed up and patted his
chest. “You have a big heart in
there and have wanted to give it to someone for
a long time. I’m glad you’ve
found someone to give it to.” I looked at the
gift. “You really didn’t have
to.”
He
smiled. “Yes, I did.” He checked his
watch. “She’s coming over any
minute, so I should get back to my apartment.
Thanks for being cool with
this. I’m going to miss
you.”
“I’m not going anywhere, champ. We’ll still
see each other. We’ll just see
each other with our clothes
on.”
He smiled and nodded as he walked out. I
locked the door behind him and
turned to the package. I should’ve given it back
to him. He didn’t need to give
me anything. What I received from our time
together was the only thing
I’d wanted from him. I opened the package and
smiled. I guess he wanted to
make sure I still had my
orgasms.
I took it out and
looked at the deluxe model
vibrator he had given me. I wasn’t much into
vibrators and didn’t have the
need for them with him next door. I shrugged and
took it to the bedroom. I
didn’t have him anymore, so no need for his money to
go to waste.
Author Bio
B.L. Mooney started writing when the voices and storylines in
her head ran out of room. They were getting too cramped and neither B.L. nor
the characters could take it anymore, so she did the only thing she could
do—she made room. She always knew she wanted to write, but vowed to make time
for it later. Now that she’s made time for writing, most everything else falls
to the wayside. That seems to suit the characters that keep popping up in her
head just fine.
B.L. lives in the Midwest, and her other talents include in-demand cookies, a very dry sense of humor, and stealth eavesdropping. Some mannerisms, attitudes, or twists come from random sentences picked up while passing by strangers. So speak up the next time you have something to gossip about. You never know, it may just end up on the pages of the next book you read.
She loves to hear from her readers and you can contact her via email at AuthorBLMooney@gmail.com
B.L. lives in the Midwest, and her other talents include in-demand cookies, a very dry sense of humor, and stealth eavesdropping. Some mannerisms, attitudes, or twists come from random sentences picked up while passing by strangers. So speak up the next time you have something to gossip about. You never know, it may just end up on the pages of the next book you read.
She loves to hear from her readers and you can contact her via email at AuthorBLMooney@gmail.com
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